


Discovering Family

by Lvmos_Nox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Anxiety, Bad Albus Dumbledore, Bisexual Harry Potter, Cute Harry Potter, F/M, Harry goes to Manhattan, Harry is Tonys son, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Mature Harry Potter, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Tony Stark, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Smart Harry Potter, Supportive Avengers, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 49,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23127514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lvmos_Nox/pseuds/Lvmos_Nox
Summary: “U-Uhm it says here my dad is Anthony Howard Stark,” his voice quivered, and the Goblin hummed.“And that James Potter was my Blood adopted Father,” his hands shook, and the Goblin hummed, again.“What’s Blood adoption?” he held his breath to steady his voice.ORA test in Gringotts reveals Harry's parentage. Now he has a chance at a real family, Harry hunts down his father and hopes to be accepted.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter/Tony Stark (past), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 116
Kudos: 1116





	1. Preparing

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't put many warnings, ratings or tags up yet but I'll be sure to update them if necessary.

A bitter wind whipped at his face, shadows hunted him, and trees creaked and groaned under the forceful breeze. He had to leave, not only would the Dursleys kill him but surely someone was on their way to expel him; even though it was accidental magic but the ministry seemed to have no problem punishing him when Dobby the house-elf used magic.

Harry sat at a street corner and curled up slightly to preserve body heat. He heard a twig snap; he whipped his head to look for what made the noise but saw nothing turning his gaze to the asphalt on the road he rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

Something behind him squeaked, this time he pulled his wand and turned, pointing his wand at the… swing. He huffed a sigh; he was being paranoid, either that or the shadows really were hunting him.

As he put his wand back into his pocket it flared with light and a loud bang startled him. An old, purple bus slowly pulled up in front of him, “Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening.” A 20somethin-year-old stood In front of him, reading from a piece of paper. The man looked up at Harry, “Come on then, we don’t got all night.”

Harry lugged his trunk onto the bus and reached into his pocket to pulled out a few knuts he had stored in them, “It’s all I have at the moment,” He put the knuts into Mr. Shunpike’s hand and waited. “More than enough lad. There’s a spear seat just through ‘ere,” The man said and lead Harry through the bus, past rows of sleeping wizards and witches and onto a seat in the middle of the bus.

“Hold on tight,” He said as soon as Harry sat down. Cautiously Harry gripped a pole next to him and soon his grip tightened as they speed off, “Where ya’ headed lad?”

“The leaky cauldron. I doubt Gringotts is open at this time, so I need a place to sleep until it is.” Harry looked out the window and watched a muggle London blurred past them. “Can’t the muggles see us?”

Harry looked back when the man snorted, “The muggles don’t see nothing. And no, Gringotts closes at 9, well past that now aren’t we.” The man briefly turned to the driver to tell him something, hopefully where Harry wanted to be dropped off.

* * *

The Knight bus, Harry shook his head once he got off, he was never going to take it again unless it’s necessary. The black-haired boy pushed the door open and walked up to the counter, the place a mostly empty except the few who’d gotten so drunk they couldn’t get back to their rooms. He approached Tom who was cleaning glasses, “Could I have a room please?” Tom looked at him and nodded “How long?” he asked, pulling out a book and quill. Harry thought, “Just the night for now. I’m going to Gringotts in the morning to make a withdrawal, is it okay to pay then?” He didn’t have any money on him and if Tom said no then he’d be spending the night on the streets.

“As long as you pay me back then it’s okay. You’re in room 13 just up the stairs and to the right,” Tom put the keys on the counter, “Name and Age?” He’d opened his book and was getting ready to wright.

“Harrison Grey, I’m 13,” He whispered and flattened his fringe across his scar, like hell he was going to use his real name.

Tom wrote down the given information before closing the book and jerking his head towards the keys, “That’s 3 galleons and 2 sickles. Pay me when you can, and I’ll know if you don’t.”

Harry took the keys and went to his room, dragging his trunk with him. Once he was in his room, he threw himself on the bed and groaned, a deep long groan of fatigue.

The boy kicked his trainers off and slipped under the thin sheets and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

He was awoken the next morning with the sun shining in his face, he groaned and turned over, burying his face into his pillow before flopping onto his back and staring at the ceiling.

The first thing he had to do was go to Gringotts, pay Tom, buy breakfast then buy his schoolbooks. Maybe he’d get some clothes while he was at it.

Moaning as he stretched his body Harry threw himself out of bed and hunted down the bathroom, finding it he opened the door and looked inside; there was a vanity with a sink and a mirror, there was a singular toilet and a shower/bath hybrid.

Stripping down, he got into the shower and turned it on, shivering at the cold before sighing and melting into the steamy water.

After his shower he combed his hair back, a completely useless endeavor, washed up, and got changed into some fresh clothes, which admittedly, were all too big; thank you, Dudley.

Harry made his way downstairs and towards the brick wall leading to Diagonally, he got some help opening it and made his way through the bustling streets of the ally. Children and parents made their way through the street and into shops.

He made sure to keep his head down in case someone recognized him. Eventually, he made his way up the marble steps of the Wizarding bank, past the guards and inside. The boy went over to the closest teller and waited patiently for the teller to look up.

“Yes?” The goblin grumbled.

“I’d like to make a withdrawal,” Harry said, trying his hardest not to fidget under the beady-eyed gaze.

“Name and key, please,” He sneered.

“Oh, uh, Harry Potter and I don’t have the key,” He whispered his name to make sure nobody heard it. He remembered Hagrid had his key in his first year, but he’d never been given it, maybe Dumbledore had it.

“If you don’t have your key then you need to confirm your identity so you can get a new one. For a fee of course.” Harry nodded and the goblin stood up and motioned for Harry to follow, they made their way through corridors of offices before stopping before one with a silver plaque the read ‘Griphook’. The Goblin knocked on the door and entered when a voice called out to do so, they moved into the office and sitting behind a desk was another Goblin.

“This boy claims that he is Harry Potter and wants to make a withdrawal but has forgotten his key,” The Goblin sneered.

Harry thought It was a good time to remain silent until talked to, so he just stood there and waited to be addressed.

The Goblin behind the desk sneered, “You may leave, I will test him.” The Goblin that led him there left Harry standing in the room alone with an unknown Goblin.

“You claim to be Mr. Potter?” The Goblin looked up from some paperwork after several minutes of silence.

“Yes, sir.” Harry wrung his hands.

“Take a seat,” He gestured to some seats in front of the desk, “I am Griphook. I will need some blood to do an inheritance test to make sure you are who you claim you are.” Griphook got out of his seat and opened a cupboard, he pulled out a bowl, a piece of parchment and a knife.

“Cut your finger and let three drops of blood full into the bowl.” Griphook handed Harry the knife which he took. He looked at the knife before slicing his finger and hovering it over the bowl, pulling his hand back once three drops were in the bowl.

He placed the knife back on the table and looked up surprised when something entered his vision, it was a plaster, a mickey mouse plaster. Why would Goblins, magical creatures, have plasters, non-magical objects. Harry needn’t ask, Griphook had read his expression and smiled a cruel smile, “Giving the Purebloods muggles things, such as plasters, anger them but they can’t say anything because if they do, they could lose our services.”

Harry mentally snorted. “Uh, thank you. What now?” The boy took the plaster and put it on.

“Now I do the next step then I read the results.” Griphook poured the potion, which had turned a creamy red, onto the parchment and Harry watched in awe as the liquid moved around the page to form words before settling into it.

The Goblin picked up the parchment and read the results while humming, “You are who you say you are,” Griphook sighed, dejected and Harry grimaced, the Goblin probably wanted to behead him or something.

“Can I see the results?” Harry asked. The Goblin handed over the parchment before going back to his paperwork.

He looked down and read,

_Name: Harry James Potter_

_Parents: Lilly Potter nee Evans (Deceased), Anthony Howard Stark (Alive)._

_Blood adopted Parents: James Potter (Deceased)._

He stopped reading, 3 lines and yet so many questions. 

“U-Uhm it says here my dad is Anthony Howard Stark,” his voice quivered, and the Goblin hummed.

“And that James Potter was my Blood adopted Father,” his hands shook, and the Goblin hummed, again.

“What’s Blood adoption?” he held his breath to steady his voice.

“Blood adoption, Mr. Potter, is a ritual used to adopt a child, not just by law but also by blood.” Griphook didn’t even look up, he kept on working.

“So, I’m still blood-related to James?” oh god, please, say yes.

“Yes, you are, that is the point of the blood adoption ritual,” Griphook looked up and continued, “I guess that Mr. Potter couldn’t have children and had his wife create a baby then he blood adopted the baby. It happens a lot, what with all the inbreeding,” He went back to his paperwork.

Harry let out a breath and shivered. He had one mother, and two fathers. He looked back down at the parchment again and jolted, ‘alive’. One of his fathers was alive.

His hands began to shake again. He had to find him, if he found him, he could get away from the Dursleys. He smiled at the thought of having a loving family before throwing it away, his Potter luck would probably interfere before they could be one big happy family.

“I’d like to withdraw 5000 Galleons.” The boy set the parchment down beside him, “And a muggle birth certificate if that’s possible.” He wrung his hands. If he was going to go searching for his dad, he’d need money, lots of money, and something to prove what he said was the truth.

“Of course, Mr. Potter. I’ll also be withdrawing 20 galleons for the test and the birth certificate. At Harry's nod, he got up, “Anything else?”

“Um, could I have 4000 of the galleons in British pounds?” There was the chance his dad was a muggle and if he was Harry was going to need some muggle money.

“Of course,” The Goblin sneered and left the room.

He had to think about this, he can’t be Gryffindor about it. First, he had to find out where his dad then decided on how to get there.

Maybe if he Googled his dad's name something will come up but that might not work. He could ask Griphook to find him, but he didn’t want to ask for anything else. He groaned. He’d try Google than just go to a police station or something and say he’s lost.

The doors opened again, and Harry looked up to see Griphook holding a pouch, a plastic slip with paper inside, a key and a small envelope

The Goblin handed him all of the items and took a seat before addressing him, “In the black pouch, there is a total of 1000 Galleons, of course with the magic that is being used all you have to do it think about how much you want and you will get it. If you open the envelope-” which Harry quickly tore into “- you have a Gringotts cashflow card.” 

Harry looked down at the black card that read ‘Gringotts’ in gold letters across the middle. “Your Muggle balance on it is 14,840GBP or $19,239USD, the card is already activated, and the pin is 8031.”

Giving the boy a minute, the Goblin continued. “Your Birth Certificate is completely legal and legitimate, so you don’t have to worry about breaking any laws. You also have a new vault key, usually, you only go into your vault to get items and small sums of money; if you need any large sums of money then you can come to me as I am your account manager. Is that all I can do for you today?” Griphook droned.

Harry nodded, “Thank you. How can I check the card and pouches balance?” he cocked his head to the side.

“flip the card over, only you can see it, to everyone else it just looks like your signature.” He did as the Goblin said and flipped the card over and found a small strip of white with the balance of the card. “As for the pouch, if you look at the leather inside the pouch there is a white stripe, it works the same as the card.”

“Cool,” he murmured.

“If that’s all then I’ll be calling someone to escort you out.” Harry nodded dumbly again, put the pouch of Galleons in his pocket with his card and key and he held his Birth Certificate. He’d have to look that over later.

* * *

Taking in a big breath of fresh air, Harry looked up at the misty numbers in the middle of the air, 11 am, he’d been down there for roughly two hours. He loved magic.

Pushing his way through the even busier streets he made his way back to the leaky cauldron, once inside he quickly made his way to his room, unlocked the door and threw his Birth Certificate and Gringotts vault key into is truck. The boy rummaged through all his stuff and pulled out a crumpled Hogwarts letter.

Harry strolled back into the front of the Leaky Cauldron and approached Tom, “Good morning, Tom. I have the payment for staying last night,” Harry said and reached into the black pouch.

Tom the barman turned around and smiled, “Thank you, lad.” Tom held out his hand and caught the 3 gold coins and 2 silver coins Harry dropped into it.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a breakfast menu, would you?” Harry took a seat.

“We do but it’s not very big,” Tom turned back from a box he placed the coins into and pulled out a piece of parchment from behind the counter. Harry took it and read it through.

“Could I have the omelet?”

“Sure thing, that’s 1 galleon,” Tom said and walked through a door off to the side of the bar. Harry, once again, reached into his pouch and pulled out a single Galleon.

Tom came back through the door a few minutes later carrying a steaming plate. It didn’t take Harry long to eat through his breakfast and in no time, he found himself to the entrance of Diagon Ally once again. 

His first stop was at Flourish and Blotts. He pulled out his school letter and read it through. He walked through the store and pulled the books he needed off the shelf. Transfiguration, Check. Charms, Check. Potions, Check. By the time he got to the end of the list his arms were already full and aching. Stumbling his way up to the counter he dropped all the books down and smiled goofily at the man behind it.

“Decided not to use the baskets?” The elderly man added up his total.

“The bask-” Harry turned around and groaned when he saw the woven baskets sitting innocently next to the door.

The man chuckled, “I can hold these aside if you want to keep looking.” He stacked the books back on top of each other.

“if it’s no trouble,” Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

“No trouble at all.” He placed a piece of parchment on top of the tower of books.

Harry walked over to the door and got himself a basket and began to look around. He saw a sign that read ‘defense’ and wandered over to it, there were all sorts of books; ‘defense for beginners’, ‘defensive spells for the young and incompetent’, ‘ever day defense spells to protect your child.’

The variety went on and on, but Harry picked up a book the read ‘defensive spells to defend family and friend’. He flicked through it and added it to the basket, the book ranged from simple spells to more complicated spells.

He wandered around the store shopping at the healing section, creatures’ section, offensive section, and picking up a book on spells. If he was going to be finding his father who knows what he’ll need to protect himself and others.

Making his way back up to the counter the man smiled at him as he piled his books In front of him. “You sure you got everything?” He laughed and continued to count his total.

“Yep, all set for the next few months.” Harry laughed along with him.

“Well, for all of these it will be 26 Galleons.” The man turned and grabbed a brown paper bag with handles and procced to put all the books in it, he noticed Harry's stumped expression and smiled, “Extension charm,” he said and put the bag on the counter, spinning it towards Harry.

Harry had already put the money on the counter, he smiled at the man and took the bag before leaving the store.

After books came clothes, he wanted some nice-looking clothes for when he meets his father for the first time. A lop-sided grin appeared on his face as it finally set in. He had a family.

Eyes set firmly on Madam Malkins. The door dinged when he entered and a short elderly witch came out from around the corner. “Hello dearie,” She smiled and guided in towards a slightly raised platform, he dropped his bag off on a chair Infront of it before getting on it.

She began measuring him and a quill, which was floating beside her, wrote down the words she was muttering, “Once I have your measurements you can take a look around and pick out what you like, just bring them up to the front and I’ll do the rest,” She smiled kindly at him before finishing up and walking off.

Harry got off the platform, picked up his bag, and went over to the tops. After some searching, he found a silky button-up that almost seemed to flow with his movements. He wandered up and down the isles before stopping in a section that had muggle dress shirts, he fished out a plain black one and added it into of the other shirt which was thrown over his arm. Doing a bit more wandering he found a bunch of t-shirts and long-sleeves, he added three or four of each in different colours then moved onto pants.

With the ever-growing pile of clothes hanging over his arm, he went to the lady behind the counter who was smiling at him. He put down the grey hoodie, which was first on his list. Then a pair of black socks followed by some which ones. They didn’t seem to have any shoes, so he’d have to go to a Muggle store to get them. 

As he was putting the cloths down, she was adding to his total and moving the cloths in a line along a table behind her.

After the socks came the grey sweatpants, Jeans, some black slacks, and what appeared to be black animal hide pants.

She beamed at him when he placed the animal hide pants down, “Dragonhide, good choice, very durable.” That was good, they should last him longer.

Then came the tops. After he put down the last top, the silky button-up she spoke again, “Acromantula silk, also very durable, lots of free movement as well.” After she turned to put the last item on the table she turned back, “93 Galleons and 3 sickles. It will take a while to tailor all these, so come back in a few hours to collect them.” She put the money Harry gave her into a box behind her before levitating all the clothes off the table and into a back room.

He left the store and decided to walk around. He saw a stationery store, ice-cream, a prank store, and even a salon.

While he wasn’t focusing where he was going, he ended up wandering into Knockturn Alley. He jolted out of his thoughts when he felt dark magic. Looking around he noticed he was standing off to the side of the Alley in the shadows. He was about to turn back when he noticed a sign that seemed to be wanting to hide, it kept blurring before focusing again. Growing curious he wandered over to it, he looked through a window then went inside.

The shelves were lined with boxes that reminded him of Ollivanders. “Get lost?” A sudden voice next to him scared him.

“Kinda? What is this place?” He continued to look around.

“A wand shop, though we’re a little more…less legal than Ollivanders.” The trailed off at the end, “We make wands without the trace.” He continued seeing Harry’s confused look.

“What’s the trace?” The man looked at Harry for a minute then continued.

“How do you reckon the Ministry knows who casts underage magic or not. All wands have a trace on underage Wizards and Witches that can alert them when magic is used outside of school. Of course, it breaks when you turn 17.” 

He thought about the books he bought a few hours before. How could he practice and protect his new family if he couldn’t cast magic? He needed one of these wands, “I’ll take one.” The man’s smile grew.

“Right this way.” He led Harry behind a curtain and began pulling out wands. It was a very similar experience as Ollivanders, he would give a wand to Harry only for it to be snatched right back up. 

It took a while, once again much like Ollivanders, but they got there in the end.

“A mix of Holly and Aspen wood with a Phoenix feather core.” The man said, brandishing the wand with both hands. It had a dark brown handle, like the one he had now, but it got lighter and at the tip, it was nearly white.

“And if I use magic with it the Ministry won’t know?” the man nodded. “How much?” Harry put his hand into his pouch and waited for the man to reply, the man grinned and held up 4 fingers. “4 Galleons?” The man nodded Harry pulled his hand out holding 4 gold pieces and handed it to the man.

With that done he left the shop and returned to the shadows heading for the exit of the Alley.

Once he was out, he stowed his new wand away in his sock and turned his head to where he heard a commotion, getting closer he saw it was over a new broom, a fire bulb or something.

He went inside the store hoping to find something for his broom, a nimbus 2000, when he saw it. The most majestic broom he’d ever seen. Sleek and black, a polished handle and a trimmed tail. He looked up at the gift from God that sat on a pedestal. Harry looked for a name and price tag, finding a plaque under it he read it,

_Firebolt_

_2,000 Galleons_

He only had under 1,000 Galleons, anyway, he didn’t want to spend so much money on a broom when he already had a perfectly fine broom sitting in his trunk, no matter how cool it looked. Sighing, he pushed the pain deep down and walked further into the store. He saw books and kits. When he saw nothing he wanted, he made his way back out of the store, making sure to keep his head down as not to look at that amazing broom.

* * *

At the end of the day, Harry sat in his room again, after paying for another night. He’d organized his Trunk. Old clothes and books at the bottom and new clothes and books on top, He’d also put his Nimbus 2000 across everything else on top and smiled at it before closing the lid and getting into bed.

* * *

Once he was ready: washed, dresses and fed Harry left via the Muggle exit and into town, from there he caught a bus further into town and towards a library.

Now he stood outside a great stone building, huge doors and pillars and a sign that read ‘Library’.

He walked into the building and past the front desk, heading for the computers, they required no login, so he went to Chrome and put his dad's name into the search bar. He was immediately shocked at what he saw.

His dad, Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark, was famous.

The first thing that showed up was a picture of a flying metal man, a very big building, and his dad's face. He couldn’t stop looking. He looked like his father, James. He had his mother, Lilly’s, eyes. But he had his dad, Tony’s, hair, black hair and slightly wild; untameable.

The next thing he looked for was a location. He built a tower, ‘Stark Tower’ but everyone called it ‘Avengers Tower’. If he can find Stark Tower, then he can find his Dad or at least someone who knows where he is.

“You like Tony Stark?” A voice behind him made him jump, he swerved around to see a man, mid 30’s.

“Yeah, I’m alive because of him.” It was technically true.

“He seems to be doing a lot of that. Saving people, that is. I think it’s guilt,” The man took a seat next to Harry.

“Guilt? What for?” Harry turned away from the computer and faced the man.

“He used to own a weapons company, they called him ‘the Merchant of Death’. After Afghanistan, he got a taste of what happens to people on the receiving end of his weapons. I think he feels guilty for creating them and causing so much pain,” the man explained. “My name is William,” He held out his hand.

Harry took it, “Harry. What happened in Afghanistan?” He let go of Williams’ hand.

The man looked confused for a second, “It was big news, worldwide. Mr. Stark was showing a new missile he created, the Jericho, on his way back they were ambushed. They used Stark’s weapons, they killed all the soldiers, injured Stark and kidnapped him. They tortured him and demanded he remake the Jericho, but he refused and built the first model for that suit.” William pointed to the metal man on the computer screen. Harry grinned, so stubbiness runs in all three of his parents, no wonder he always seemed to get an outstanding when it came to being stubborn. William got up and smiled at Harry, “we’ll, I have to go now, I have a Psychology class to teach.”

After William left, Harry began to read. His dad was Iron Man, he was inside that flying metal suit and he was a part of a team called ‘the avengers’. Just last year they fought Loki and Aliens. 

He was thanking his past self for buying that wand and those books, he was going to need it.

When he finished his impromptu history lesson on his Dad, he got down to business. He’d already decided to go to Stark Tower since there was a high chance of his Dad being there or someone who knew where he was.

Manhattan, 200 Park Avenue.

So, he’d have to book a flight then take a taxi to Stark Tower. He looked down at himself, he was wearing his new jeans and a long sleeve green top as well as his old trainers. Before he was going anywhere, he had some muggle shopping to do.

* * *

A black-haired boy walked into a shoe store, he wandered around looking for what he wanted. He needed something formal, something casual, and some trainers.

He walked through the isles before stopping Infront of some black sneakers, they were okay. He picked his size. They were black so they were harder to stain. He carried the box of shoes around until he came across some boots, they were lace-up and went just above his ankle. He grabbed a box in his size and continued searching. 

When he couldn’t find what he was looking for he went to the front counter. He smiled at the man and placed the boxes down, he started to scan the box, “Do you know where I can get some formal shoes?” Harry pulled out his card and swiped.

“Just down the road, there is a shop for formal wear.” The man put his receipt in a plastic bag with his new shoes.

Harry nodded in thanks and took the bag before leaving to store go to the one the man had suggested.

And when he got there a saw exactly what he wanted. Seeing that there were no boxes under the model he went up to the counter, “I’d like a pair of shoes, I’ve seen some I like.” behind the counter the woman smiled. 

“Alright, which ones?” Harry pointed out the ones he said along with his size and a few minutes later the woman was coming towards him with a box. After paying and bagging the shoes Harry stood outside the store and did a mental checklist.

He knows where he’s going to go, how he’s getting there but not when. He also had everything he needed, Clothes, Money, documents, and books. He remembered Hermione talking about a phone and how useful they could be so maybe he better get one of those. 

He looked around the small shopping district he’d been shopping in and spotted a tech store. He had quite a bit of money, so he wasn’t worried about running out. Sitting on a table he saw a small, roughly the size of his palm, black phone, it was touch screen he’d gathered when he saw no buttons on it. Looking under the table he’d seen the phone sitting on, he saw them all sitting in boxes but when he tried to open the glass doors they wouldn’t budge.

He turned and stopped a store worker; Harry approached the man.

* * *

He’d ended up buying a laptop as well. ‘Good for research,’ the man had said. Well, now he had a phone number, phone, and laptop. They were both ‘Apple’ the man said they were good brands, but Harry wondered why someone would name their company after a fruit. 

He turned off onto a less busy street and pulled out his new wand from his sock, he flicked it and with a bang, the Knight bus appeared.

He’d promised himself that he’d never go on the Knight bus again unless necessary. It wasn’t the end of the world, but he didn’t want to get mugged while carrying all his stuff.

With a grimace, he pulled a Galleon out of his pouch and handed it to a grinning Stan. Once he sat down, he hugged the bags to his chest with one arm and gripped the pole like a vice with his other.

He closed his eyes for the entire, excruciating experience hoping to feel less nauseous, his plan had not worked. As he stepped off the bus he puked into a gutter next to the bus.

He stumbled up to his room, paying Tom for another night as he went and sat crossed-legged on his bed. Taking a steadying breath, he opened his eyes, which he didn’t even notice he had closed.

He unpacked his shoes and put them underneath his clothes. Harry pulled out his untraceable wand and shrunk the empty shoe boxes, he’d learned that spell in second year. Pulling out his laptop he turned it on. While in the store one of the employees had helped him set it up, with passwords, email account and he’d even saved his Gringotts card information onto it.

He went straight for Google and looked at booking a flight to New York. He decided to go in two days. That way he could talk to Griphook about how he will be getting his money while abroad and also send a last-minute owl to Hermione with his phone number, he wanted to send the letter last minute because he didn’t want anyone trying to stop him or go along with him.

He read on the airport website in New York that once he got there, he could call a taxi and get a ride which has his transport all sorted. Next was accommodation, he wasn’t expecting Tony to house him, so he’d looked for any Hotels near the Tower. He found a Hotel 15 minutes’ walk from the Tower and it was $150 a night. It was bloody well expensive, but it was the closest place with a vacancy he could find.

He decided to book a room ahead of time, so he didn’t show up with no free rooms. He booked it for the night he arrived and the night after as well. Going back to the flights’ website he did the same thing. Better safe than sorry.

He closed his Laptop and shoved his shoes off. Tomorrow he’d go see Griphook and the day after he’d be flying to Manhattan.

* * *

“Gringotts has establishments all over the world including Manhattan but if you are so worried about it, I can hook your coin pouch and card to your vault, so It comes straight out of it.” Griphook had a bored expression on his face as he stacked some paperwork.

Harry let out a breath, that made it much easier than having to come to England every time he ran out of money. He jolted when he realized something, he was leaving the country; didn’t you need some kind of paper when you were leaving the country? Damn, what was it called? Right, a passport.

“Yes, please. Griphook, if I’m leaving the country dont I need a passport?”

“You will need a passport; I can get that on our way back.” Griphook stood.

“Our way back?” Harry tilted his head and stood as well.

“Yes, we’ll have to make a trip down to the main vault and sync the card and pouch.” The Goblin walked out of the office and Harry followed.

The ride was similar to the Knight bus. Once he got off, he had to hold his breath so he wouldn’t puke all over the floor. Griphook placed his hand on the vault door and it groaned before opening.

The vault wasn’t all gold surprisingly. It was full of books, jewelry, chests and old furniture. He gave his coin pouch and card to Griphook before wandering off. 

The very first thing he went to was a wooden box with small lilies carved into it. He unhooked the latch and opened it, sitting on top of all the items was a diary, leather-bound and dusty. He blew the dust away and opened the book

_Property of Lily Evens_

Harry sucked in a breath and closed the book. It hurt; he didn’t know why but it hurt. This diary belonged to his mother. His mother who’d cast herself before a lethal curse so he could live. He felt tears prick at his eyes, he wiped them away with his sleeve and kept the book in his hand. 

He kept looking through his mothers’ chest before he found a small box. He opened it and inside was his parents' wedding rings. Closing the chest, he took his mother's diary and parents' wedding rings with him before continuing his exploration. 

He found books, ancient books. He also found a silver chain necklace, it was made of Goblin metals, he took the chain with him. He also found a photo album among a whole stack of them. Maybe it was a family thing to make photo albums, maybe he should start one. It was quite apparent that wizards discovered photography before Muggles but hadn’t explored further. Inside were photos from both of his parent’s childhoods, their wedding, then there was Harry. 

God, the look in their eyes when they looked at him. Love, so much love. He began to sob. He could have had that, all that love in his life. There were also photos of a black-haired man, a light brown-haired man with scares, and a black dog and stag.

Taking steadying breaths, he stood and wiped away his tears. He had someone now, family, his dad. He smiled and walked back over to Griphook who was standing in the doorway waiting for him. He gave Harry his pouch and card and closed the door.

“Found something you like?” His eyes drifted to the items in Harry’s hand.

Harry nodded, “yes.”

When he got back to his room, after paying another night, he put the rings on the necklace then he put the necklace on. One of the rings, which he’d assumed was his fathers, was a simple golden band. His mother’s ring was like his fathers, only it was thinner and had nice small rocks running along the top. He’d also put the album in his trunk along with the diary on top of the album Hagrid had given him in first year, maybe that could be the start of his album. He then tucked his passport away in a little side pocket.

The emotional breakdown earlier in his vault had exhausted him and when he got into bed, he fell straight asleep.

* * *

_Hermione,_

_020 **** ***_

_Harry._

He didn’t want Hermione figuring out what the numbers were too soon, so he left no indication of what they meant. He rolled the parchment and tired it to Hedwig. “Bring this to Hermione then come to me, I’ll be heading for Manhattan in the US.” With that Hedwig flew off.

He grabbed his trunk, which he’d packed earlier, as well as two plastic bags, one held rubbish and the other old clothes he was going to drop off at a clothing box and if he remembered there was one down the street from the Leaky.

His trunk banged on the floor as he was going down the stairs, “Finally headed out Mr. Grey?” Tom asked from across the room. Harry smiled and nodded, “Yes, thank you for everything Tom,” he handed the key back to Tom. “Good luck,” Tom said. Harry nodded in thanks and left the Leaky Cauldron.

Once he stepped out, he was attacked by a fierce wind, he scowled at the space ahead of him and walked down the road towards a big blue box. He pulled a handle and opened the door, he set the bag down on the platform he’d pulled out and closed the door again, hearing his bag drop onto others. As for his rubbish bag, he found a bin nearby and stuffed it in.

He walked for a while before coming across a bus stop, he waited for the bus, which he’d found out was to the airport, and got on when it came. The bus ride was uneventful and when he arrived, he stopped at the entrance. 

This was it; he was going to board his plane and fly over to the states to meet his Dad that didn’t even know Harry existed. Walking through the automatic he pulled his trunk along and headed for where everyone else was lining up. He’d never been to an airport before so he didn’t know what he was doing, but he guessed following the crowd would work. 

When he got to the front a woman asked for his ticket and passport, he handed his passport over and told her he’d bought his ticket online. She asked for a bunch of information before printing his ticket and telling him to head to his right.

To his right was another line, he groaned. Someone laughed behind him, and he turned to see a brown-haired teenager. Harry blushed.

“Don’t fancy lines?” The teen laughed again.

He shook his head, “Harry,” He held his hand out which was gripped by the boy who had yet to stop smiling.

“Elion.” Elion let go and shoved his shoulder, “The lines moved down,” He smiled.

Harry turned to see that the line had moved down, only two people were waiting. He moved further up and turned back to Elion, “So, where are you going?”

“visiting some family in Manhattan, though we won’t be staying long, they're picking me up then we’re going to be traveling for a few weeks before coming back.” Elion shrugged.

“I’m going to visit family too, though I don’t know if they’ll accept me yet. They Kinda don’t know I exist,” Harry moved up further in line.

“Bit of a gamble there isn’t it?” 

“Yeah, but I have the money to come back, besides I have about a month until school starts back up so I’ll just tour the city or something,” Harry looked directly at Elion, he noticed he had blue eyes and a slight tan, he turned away to hide his blush. 

He was next in line so when the person in front of him walked on ahead he walked up, it was then that he noticed it was a metal detector. He placed his trunk on a conveyor belt when he was instructed and walked through the giant doorway. 

Harry groaned when the detectors went off, he heard a snicker behind him and turned to playfully glare at Elion. He was moved off to the side and scanned with some weird paddle when the paddle went off in front of his chest the security looked at him, harry nodded and the man reached down his top to pull out is necklace with the rings on it.

The let him go after that, he picked up his trunk and went towards Elion, who was sitting alone.

Harry knelt next to his trunk and opened it and grabbed the book on healing. He ignored the blue-eyed boys’ curios look and closed his trunk again. The flight was a few hours long, he was going to need something to distract himself. He opened his book and began to real. He got through the first chapter when the plane arrived. 

Everyone was called over to a gate where they had to put their luggage into a conveyor belt so it could be stored on the train. He walked up to a lady and showed his ticket and passport before being allowed onto the plane. 

He found his seat, in the middle and right next to a window, there were another two free seats next to him. An elderly man was to his right and Elion to his far right. He grinned and waved. Elion turned to the man and muttered something, the old man smiled and stood up, as did Elion. They had changed seats.

Elion took his seat next to Harry and they began talking. Harry opened his book again and began to read, Elion had pulled out his book. 

Harry smiled to himself, pushing his glasses back up his face. Elion was a good company.


	2. You're my dad boogie woogie woogie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot you needed a passport to travel overseas but I fixed that. Thank you for pointing that out.
> 
> Anyway, here is the second chapter.
> 
> Edit: I have re-read this chapter and edited it slightly, nothing plot changing though so don't worry.

Harry woke up to the plane jolting, he tensed and looked out the window, it was still light out. The plane jolted again, and he gripped the arm of the chair. Merlin, if he died in a plane crash, he was going to haunt the pilot. He turned his head to see what he had been resting on, he saw a lap and looked up and saw Elion’s sleeping face. He had slept on Elion. It took his sleep-addled mind to process what had just happened and when he did, he took calming breaths to rid of the fierce blush going up his neck.

He saw a flight attendant walking past their seats and called out in a hushed whisper, “Excuse me?” When she turned to him and smiled, he continued, “What time is it?” His voice was hushed from sleep.

He rubbed his eyes as she checked her watch, “It would be about 10 pm in the UK dear but in Manhattan, it’s about 6 pm, there’s about one hour left until we arrive. Is there anything I can get you?”

Harry thought, he could go for something hot about now, he’d seen Dudley drink it enough and he’d had it a few times during Christmas at Hogwarts, “Could I have a hot chocolate?” she smiled at his request, “With marshmallows” he could have groaned at his childish request but he was craving it, the melted gooey sweet with the liquid chocolate. He licked his lips.

She continued to smile at him before walking off to get his drink. After a few minutes Elion started to wake, Harry had realized he was still leaning on his shoulder and quickly straightened. By the time Elion was coherent Harry was happily sipping away at his hot chocolate moaning as he got a taste of the melted marshmallows.

“Enjoying that?” the blue-eyed boy asked.

Harry nodded, “You should get one, it’s great.” He took another sip.

Elion shook his head, “Don’t fancy chocolate, I prefer juice.”

“Milks better than juice and it’s good for you bones,” Harry flexed an arm, the slightest of muscle bulging. Harry pouted at that sight.

Elion laughed, clutching his side, “Clearly not good enough,” he teased.

“Oi, I’m a growing boy,” Harry sniffed in mock outrage.

“Attention all passengers, we will be landing in 20 minutes. Thank you,” a voice interrupted their banter.

“Guess we should get ready then.” Elion bent over in his seat and picked up an empty rucksack, Harry saw that Elion’s mini table was full of papers and books.

His green eyes fixed themselves on his book of healing, it was laid open by his feet, it must have fallen when he fell asleep. Mournfully, he took the last sip of his drink and picked up his book, closing it and resting it on his lap.

20 minutes until touch down; he was getting nervous, what if Elion was right and this trip was far too risky? What if this had been a mistake? No, he steeled his breath, he was so close now, he wouldn’t let some fear of rejection get in the way. If his dad didn’t want him, so be it; he would rather go back to Hogwarts with his friends than let some man he doesn’t even know to be guilt-tripped into looking after him.

“Attention all passengers, we are beginning to descend, please buckle your seatbelts.”

Harry did as instructed and turned to Elion who had his face stuffed in his book again, “Nerd,” Harry murmured.

“Says you, botanist extraordinaire,” Elion replied without looking back.

“Botanist?”

“Yeah, Botanist; someone who studies or studied plants,” He looked up at Harry.

“I know what a Botanist is, I just can’t see how it’s relevant.”

“That book-” He nodded to the healer’s book in his lap “- When you fell asleep, I saw some pictures of flowers though I couldn’t read it. What language is it?”

Harry looked at the book, “Oh,” he understood the Botanist reference now. “It’s about plants and their healing properties, it’s in Latin.” That was a little lie, the chapter he was currently reading was about plants and their healing properties, not the whole book. There was some Latin in the book he understood; after Two years at Hogwarts he’d picked up the language pretty simple, though he didn’t know every word in the dictionary, he could string together a sentence or two. Though Elion should be able to read it, it was all in English except the name of the plants, spells, and potions. He’d probably only glanced at it.

They were jolted out of their convocation when the plane landed. Harry looked out the window and felt his heart beat faster and faster, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He could do this.

“An eight-hour flight gone by so fast by sleeping the entire time,” Laughed Elion. They descended the stairs on the plane and followed the crowd through the doors. Once again having to show their passports to security.

They went to collect their bags; Harry saw his trunk going around and picked it up. He set it down on the ground so he could put his book away. He turned and saw Elion looking a little dejected.

“Do you have a phone number?” Harry asked. Elion had his bags in hand and looked up at him.

“Yeah… OH! Yeah, let me get it.” Harry nearly got whiplash at how fast his mood changed.

“Alright it’s *** *** ****.” Harry put it down into his contacts under ‘Elion’ and sent a text.

Harry: did it work?

Elion: Yeah!

“Sweet,” Harry smiled at Elion.

They walked through the airport and chatted a little before Elion stopped by the front doors, “My relatives are here, I have to go,” Elion put his phone down and turned to Harry “I hope you have luck with your family,” Elion pulled Harry into a quick hug and walked off. “Bye,” Harry shouted, and Elion turned a little to wave at Harry.

Harry sighed and turned to look at a map on the wall. He followed its instructions and ended up at a phone booth with a bunch of taxi numbers. He called the one with the best rating and before he knew it, he was off towards his hotel.

* * *

Room 213, he slipped his hotel card into the reader and opened the door. The room was nice, a couch in front of a T.V, a double bed in the corner, and a door leading to a bathroom. He put his trunk down on the couch and opened it; It was roughly 8 pm so he couldn’t go out and he spent most of the plane ride asleep, so he wasn’t tired.

He sighed and pulled out his parents’ photo album. Thumbing his parents’ wedding rings around his neck, he opened the book. He loved how to pictures moved, they capture his parent’s personalities, how his mum always smiled, and his father always had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He saw photos of their childhood and their years at Hogwarts. Harry smiled more and more as he turned the pages, he saw his parent’s growth, both physically and mentally; How at each year at Hogwarts they would make more friends.

If he was going to create his photo album then it was going to be with a wizarding camera, not some stiff muggle one. He wanted the pictures to move, and capture everything. He remembered the camera he saw Collin Creevey carry around and the camera the Daily Prophet brought to shoot Professor Lockhart in his second year. He grimaced, they were huge, bulky and just plain ugly. There was no way he could carry around one of those in the muggle world and not expose magic.

But what if he could have the same functions as a magical camera but on a muggle camera. He hummed and stretched, cracking his back. Wasn’t it just a spell that allowed the pictures to move? He could use the spell on a muggle camera. He thought of himself trying the spell and saw him blowing up, he grimaced, maybe he’d leave it to a professional.

Later that night, he got into bed without dinner but with a smile on his face. Tomorrow he’d see his dad.

* * *

He was practically shaking in his boots as he looked up at the towering building. In his hands he clutched the plastic slip that held his birth certificate, all he had to do was walk in, ask for Tony Stark, and say “You’re my dad.” He doubted it would work like that, but hope was a virtue after all.

He’d worn his best outfit for this; black slacks and his Acromantula sick button-up tucked in, it was too hot to be wearing a formal dress shirt. The Acromantula silk shirt was flowier and breathable compared to his dress shirt.

Gathering all his Gryffindor courage he walked through the doors and past the guards and straight to the lady behind the main desk. When he got there he stood, frozen. Wasn’t she going to address him? Gods, where did that courage go.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke, “H-”

“Yes,” she cut him off.

“Uh, I’m here to see Tony Stark.”

“Tony Stark is not here at the moment and if he was I doubt he’d have the time to see anyone,” she turned back to her computer, “But, I can book an appointment with Pepper Potts the CEO of Stark Industries.”

He’d read Miss Potts was Tony’s assistant, but he didn’t know what a CEO was. “Yes, please. When will this be?” he asked

“The next available space is at noon tomorrow,” she booked him in and turned to him.

All that Gryffindor courage for nothing, against his will he pouted. “Thank you,” he nodded to the lady and left.

Harry sighed as he made his way back to his hotel room, the sun was still shining bright and he couldn’t think of anything to pass the time.

Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe Magic herself was telling him to wait another day, to relax and gather himself before confronting his dad. Maybe he’d do just that, relax and have some fun.

Getting out of his dressy clothes he switched them for his jeans and a short-sleeved green shirt. Harry put his birth certificate away and made sure he had his Gringotts card; he was going to have some fun today, he nodded at his reflection surely.

He walked outside and flagged down a taxi, he had no idea what he was doing but was happy when it worked. When he got in, he thought of a destination, “Are there any arcades near?” the man driving nodded with a smile, “I’d like to go there, please.” He buckled in and watched as the outside world moved past him.

When he arrived, he saw flashing lights and kids everywhere. He had never been to an arcade before and was pleasantly surprised by what it looked like. The boy entered the arcade and went up to a claw machine, he saw they required cash or a VIP card, he eyed a store employee on their phone behind a cash register and walked up to him.

“Excuse me?” Harry stopped in front of the employee and waited for a response.

“Yes?” Was the snarky response he got.

“What’s a VIP card could I get one?” Maybe it was just a muggle thing but no one in the muggle world seemed to enjoy their jobs. Though, he wouldn’t either if it was just standing around all day.

“A VIP card is a store card that is used for discounts. When you come in you put money onto your VIP card and it makes the games 50% cheaper. And yes, you can get one.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a green card, “How much would you like to load on it?” He looked at Harry, dead bored.

“$20, please,” Harry pulled out his card and swiped it when he was told to.

Later that night, Harry was happy with himself. He booked a meeting with his dad’s P.A, made it to the arcade, and got his very own VIP card. At the end of the day, Harry sat in bed and smiled into the Iron Man plush he had won; it was hard, and he spent most of his money on it, but he liked it.

Harry went to bed happy and with a full belly.

* * *

He didn’t have to be at Stark Tower for another couple of hours; so, Harry got up and decided to take a long soak. The bath was big, warm bordering on boiling, and full of bubbles. It was so relaxing that instead of waking him up he’d fallen back asleep.

He woke again once the water had gotten cold, it took a while for his sleep fogged mind to catch up with real-time and when it did Harry jumped up, slipping in the water and falling back in with a curse. That hurt. He massaged his aching wrist, which he’d banged on the edge of the bath, and looked up at the clock.

It was a little after 11:30 in the morning, he had 30 minutes to be there. With a second curse he got up and cast a drying charm on himself with his untraceable wand; He didn’t dry his hair because the charm seemed to make it even messier, so he left it to air dry.

He threw on the formal clothes from yesterday and stood in front of the mirror. Not too bad, just needs a little work on top, he scowled at his hair which was still dripping a little bit. Before leaving his room, he grabbed both wands, his pouch and card, and his birth certificate. Harry mentally listed everything he needed before heading out.

He jogged his way there and cut the 15-minute walking time to just 7-minutes. After that run, he was grateful for his long soak this morning. He walked pasted the same guards as yesterday and walked up to the same lady that had booked him.

“I’m here to meet Miss Potts.” Harry wrung his hands and hissed silently at the sting and throb he got in return, he hoped it wouldn’t bruise. The bottle-eyed boy stared at the woman behind the desk, she looked up at him and Harry saw recognition glimmer in her eyes.

“Yes, you are. I’ll just have you fill a few things in then I’ll get someone to show you the way.” She grabbed a clipboard and handed it to him, she seemed to be in a better mood than she was yesterday. Harry took to clipboard and began to fill in the papers.

Questions were asking his name, his residence, and what he was going to be doing. Once he handed the board back over to her, she gave him a badge that said ‘guest’. When he clipped it firmly into place he was motioned past the desk and followed a security guard into an elevator, when he got off he looked out a window, he guessed they had gone up quite a few stories considering they were very high up.

They finally got there, the guard left Harry and he took several deep breaths to calm himself, he held his hand up to the door and closed his eyes, knocking.

“Come in,” A feminine voice called from inside.

Harry took the door handle, just now noticing his shaking hands and the growing bruise on his wrist, he should get that checked, and opened the door. The entire and immediately noticed the back wall which was made entirely of glass. The view out over the city was amazing. Sitting in a chair in front of the widow-wall was a woman with Auburn hair. She smiled at Harry, “Have a seat.” She gestured to the seat at the head of her desk.

Harry stumbled over himself closing the door and sitting in the chair, “Um, Hullo” dear Merlin, the devil himself could come out of the floor to take him to hell and he’d gladly go, just to avoid this, already, awkward conversation.

“Hello, why are you here today?” She smiled down at him and clicked her pen off.

Harry cleared his throat and looked down at the paper he was holding. How was he going to do this? It would be best if he could just get it out there.

He held the plastic slip out for Miss Potts to take and looked away when she grabbed it. He’d looked at the Birth Certificate a few nights ago when he’d first landed in Manhattan. It was very simple, his name, birthdate, blood type, parents, their blood type, and all that type of information. Under his parents’ name, it was Lilly Evans and Anthony Stark. The Goblins had slipped in some muggle adoption papers with James’ name on them.

Harry observed the room he was in, it was very empty, only a few pictures on the wall and an empty bookcase. He snapped his head when he heard a throat clearing. Miss Potts had put his Birth Certificate down and looked at him in the eyes, she seemed to be taking a mental picture of him as her eyes roamed his face. Harry blushed and looked over her shoulder.

There was silence for a long time, none of them knew what to say but when the silence was broken it was Harry who broke it.

“So, you see-”

“You say you are Tony’s son; you wouldn’t object to a blood test done in these labs?” he huffed, Miss Potts probably thought he was lying, hoping to get in on some money. Money honestly didn’t appeal to him, he was fine with what he had, which was a lot as it was.

“Sure, as long as you don’t clone me,” The boy tried to lighten the mood a little, but the joke didn’t seem to reach the woman as she just stood up and motioned for him to follow.

He was once again following someone up and down floors and through corridors until they stopped before a big metal door, “it’s just through here, I’ll be getting Dr. Banner to do the testing.” Miss Potts leads them through the room, it was so cool and high-tech Harry kept getting distracted and was only pulled out of his curiosity when Miss Potts cleared her throat, she did that a lot, “This is just a short cut to the medical bay.”

They arrive in the medical bay and Miss Potts told Harry to take a seat on the bed. There was no one else in the room, and with Miss Potts off talking to someone the room almost had an abandoned vibe. He could see Miss Potts talking to a dark-skinned man who looked very tired.

As he waited, he moved his sleeve cuff up a bit to get a better look at his wrist. The outside was a deep purple, the bruise was big, if he hadn’t already regrown his arm and survived a basilisk bite then he would have been impressed by the injury. He pressed the bruise and yelped at the sudden pain.

Harry looked up when Miss Potts came back with the man and Harry tilted his head slightly, “Miss Potts?” He looked up at the Auburn-haired woman who introduced the man.

“Mister Potter, this is Bruce Banner, he will be drawing your blood and taking some spit to test.” She took a seat off to the side of his bed, eyeing the wrist he was cradling, “That’s some bruise.” They all looked at Harry’s wrist, he pulled his sleeve back down and gently set it in his lap.

“An accident this morning, I was clumsy.” Well, he couldn’t say he bloody well slipped in the bath, it sounded stupid.

The man, Mister Banner, fidgeted before opening a bag he was carrying. Harry recognized that name and his appearance, but he couldn’t place it. He grumbled before his face lit up, “The Hulk!” He cried and smiled proudly; he was a damn genius for remembering that.

“Uh, yeah. If that’s going to be a problem I can-” He pointed back at his office but was interrupted. “If there’s going to be a problem, he can talk to me,” Miss. Potts stood up and stared Harry down, he gulped.

“No. No problem, I just recognized him but couldn’t place it, I didn’t mean to scream it like that,” he pushed his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Time passed swiftly and soon they were addressing a different topic, “I’d like to take a look at that wrist,” Doctor Banner went to grab it, but Harry withdrew his arm. He did tell himself he was going to get it checked out but that didn’t mean he wanted people grabbing at him.

Carefully he undid the cuff button and rolled his sleeve up, he held his arm out, cradled by his other arm. Doctor Banner took it gently and Harry dropped the arm supporting it. The Doctor looked at it and asked him to move it in certain directions before feeling it.

“I don’t think its broken, maybe just a sprain but I’d like to get a quick x-ray,” He went to write something down. Harry threw his head back and groaned, this was taking longer than we would have liked, “Either that or I treat it as a sprain, I wrap it, and a year later you come back to me complaining about pains, then we’d have to rebreak it and wait for it to heal again.” He looked at Harry and he gave in; the man had a point.

The metal table he had to lay his arm on was cold but thankfully it didn’t take more than five minutes and soon he was back on his bed with Dr. Banner wrapping his arm, “What did you do to sprain it this badly?”

Harry blushed but decided to answer, “I fell asleep in the bath and when I woke up I only had 30 minutes to get here, I jumped out of the bath but slipped and whacked my hand on the edge on the bath,” his free hand ran through his slightly damp hair.

“That’ll do it,” the man murmured. “It’s going to have to be wrapped for the next three weeks and then I’ll take another look at it.” Harry nodded to him.

After that, the blood drawing and spit collecting went smoothly and his hand was nicely wrapped, all he had to do now was wait for the results and he didn’t know how long that was going to be or what happened after that. He sighed and pouted, more waiting; lucky him. Miss Potts had handed back his Birth Certificate and sent him on his way, as he left, he didn’t notice the woman staring at him.

* * *

It had been a day, she had no words to describe it, it was just a day; she couldn’t get in contact with Tony, there had been a meeting a few hours before which was a waste of time, the coffee machine at her favourite store had broken down, and now she had some kid that was claiming to be Tony’s child. He didn’t look any older than 10 and he had come alone, both to the meeting and to book a meeting, and he was hurt.

She didn’t know what to think, he shared Tony’s hair and maybe a few facial features and his Birth Certificate seemed real as well. She watched the boy leave, expecting him to be picked up but he just kept walking. She didn’t know what to think.

Harry James Potter, age 13, born on 31 July 2000. His mother was Lily Potter and his father was supposedly Tony Stark. There were extra papers along with his Birth Certificate, adoption papers. At first, she thought they were for Tony to sign, but after a closer look, she saw they were already signed by James Potter. Harry’s adopted father.

She walked back down to Bruce’s’ office, “Do you think it’s real. I mean, after all these false alarms by people trying to win money out of Tony, do you think the test will be positive.” She leaned against his desk and held her head in her hands. She worried for Tony if it was true, Tony was no parent, he couldn’t even look after himself let alone a human child.

“Yes,” Her head snapped up; this wasn’t good “it’s just a gut feeling you know? He didn’t come in with anyone, he looked a little nervous, hell, he reminds me a little of Tony. I just… I have a feeling the results are going to be positive.” Bruce massaged his temples, there was a heavy pit in his stomach, it was so hard to explain but this child was, if not Tony’s son, related to Tony in some way.

“Right. I-I’ll go and see if I can contact Tony.” She stood to leave when Bruce spoke again.

“He could be good for Tony, ignoring the fact that Tony has never been able to look after a single person nor is he prepared to be a parent, which most parents aren’t, he could be a good influence.” Pepper left at that. She hoped he was right, Tony seemed to be getting worse and worse after flying into the portal above New York.

She hoped he was right.

* * *

Harry stopped off to get some pizza for dinner and bought it back to his hotel room to eat. First, he changed into his sweatpants and hoodie before sitting on the couch and looking through his parents’ photo album while eating dinner. Each photo had the names of everyone in it, what they were doing, and when they took the photo.

There were a lot of names that he didn’t recognize such as Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. But there were some names he did recognize like Alice and Frank Longbottom, Neville’s parents. He bookmarked the pages with the Longbottom’s in it and made up his mind to copy them and send them to Neville as a belated birthday present.

After his dinner he sat on the floor staring at nothing, he played with his parents’ wedding rings, slipping them on and off his fingers and fell into deep thought.

He had to find a magical district because his list of magical related errands was getting bigger, he had to find a way to make a muggle camera magical and he had to copy the pictures to send to Neville.

Magic didn’t work very well with electricity, but what if the camera wasn’t powered by electricity but with something compatible to magic, maybe he could make it solar-powered, no, that wouldn’t work. If he could get the camera to run on magic, it might work but that would require some kind of magic battery.

He was thrown roughly back into reality via a knock at the window. He stood up and groaned at all the kinks he had gotten sitting on the floor. He walked to the window and threw it open when he found the culprit. Once it was open, he was attacked by a ball of white, “Hedwig! You found me”, he hugged her to his chest, mindful of his wrist.

When he pulled back, she gave him a ‘duh’ look, “Sorry I doubted you,” he laughed.

She flew over to his bed and perched herself on the headboard. When she was settled, she stared piercingly at his wrist, demanding an explanation.

“Don’t worry, I slipped in the bathroom and banged it. Go to sleep, you must be tired.” She stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

All he had to do was find a place like Diagon Ally. He sighed and got into bed, that was a thought for another day.

* * *

The black-haired boy was pacing back and forth in front of his bed, he muttered words under his breath before shaking his head. As soon as he’d woken the next morning he’d been plagued with last night’s thoughts. He looked over to Hedwig, “How could I find a magical ally, I don’t think they have maps with signs saying, ‘magic this way’,” Harry sighed and sat on the corner of his bed smiling a little at the idiotic thought.

Hedwig hooted and Harry looked over to her, “What is it?”

She hooted again looking at his wands on the bedside table then outside, “Can you find a magical spot?” She hooted in affirmative and flew over to a piece of paper on the couch.

Harry nodded in understanding, “You want me to ask for an address?” He pulled out a pen when Hedwig hooted again and began to write his message.

_Hello,_

_To whoever is receiving this; my name is Harry, I’m visiting Manhattan, but I don’t know where any of the magical shops are. I was wondering if maybe I could get an address._

_Thank you,_

_Harry._

That was the best he could write at the moment, he rolled it up and secured it on Hedwig’s leg, “Promise me you won’t take it to a pedophile.” Hedwig gave him a deadpan look, he stood back and watched her fly off.

In the meantime, he was going to get some late breakfast. Still in his sweats and hoodie, he went to the café attached to the hotel, it had been his safe eating place for early morning and late nights. He ate an egg sandwich at a table in the corner and opened his bottle of chocolate milk.

After more than half an hour, Harry went back to his room to read. He’d finished reading his book on healing which had potions, spells, and even a basic ward that doesn’t allow any harm, intentional or accidental, come to whoever is inside. It was called ‘Spatio Ad Sanandum’ or ‘Space to Heal’.

Technically, it wasn’t a ward but a protective enchantment, but the book called it a ward because of its ability to intermingle with other wards and be set up with a ward stone. Of course, something so amazing wouldn’t come without its downfalls; it was a very draining spell and only worked for small areas with a low amount of people; 3-6 the book had said.

Choosing to read the book on wards, after reading about the healing ward, he flipped the book open and began reading.

_Chapter 1: Types of wards_

_Wards full under the Spells category of magic along with transfiguration, charms, jinxes, etc. Each ward has its own pattern, and with careful precision, wards can be woven together making them harder to be broken, though not all wards can be woven together, some wards are so different from each other they won’t cooperate and will end with the wards collapsing. If you do want to use two wards that won’t weave together then it would get best to use two separate warding stones and layer them like coats of paint._

_Wards come in five different categories: Defensive, Harmful, Lethal, Blood, and Abnormal._

_Defensive wards cause no damage, pain or injury to whoever is trying to get through or past them. The Muggle-repelling charm (repello muggletum), disillusionment charm and ‘Protego horribilis’ are examples of this. The Muggle-repelling charm prevents Muggles from seeing or entering an area protected with this ward, they will spontaneously remember something and leave the area._

_Harmful wards can cause pain and injury but not death even after prolonged exposure. These wards aren’t illegal anywhere in the world. An example of these types of wards is ‘ignis sentire’ translated to ‘feel fire’ and like the name indicates the wards will make the individual in contact with this ward feel as though they are on fire. Since they aren’t on fire it causes no physical damage._

_Lethal wards are wards that cause death to those who encounter them. The death caused by these wards may be fast, slow, painful, etc. ‘Fianto Duri’ is a good example of this, combined with ‘Protego Maxima’ the wards become hard and to those unfortunate enough to cross one causes you to disintegrate on the spot. These wards are illegal in most countries and the punishment for using one is 10 years in prison if the ward kills someone that’s an extra 5 years for each person._

_Blood wards are another type of illegal ward, there are two types of blood wards: sacrificial and given. Sacrificial wards are created when someone dies to protect someone else out of strong love for a family member, this creates lingering protection in the blood of the person that was saved; though to active this protection a spell must be cast and another family member must accept the saved person as their own. Wards like these are called ‘Bond of the Blood’. The second type, given, is just a basic blood sacrifice of the caster onto a ward stone._

_Finally, Abnormal. These types of wards don’t directly full under any of the other categories and aren’t wards but strong protective enchantments and spells. What makes these different from any other protective enchantment and spell is that they can weave themselves in with other wards creating a stronger more complex ward. An example is the ‘Spatio Ad Sanandum’ ward, it creates a small area of healing where any individual inside will not come to any harm. _

_Chapter 2: Warding Stones._

_A warding stone is generally the size of the palm of your hand, they are made of Sedimentary rocks because these rocks are made naturally from the elements, they have a stronger connection to magic, making it easier for the wards to be anchored to them._

_The four most common Sedimentary rocks used are Siltstone, Coal, Dolomite, and Limestone. _

_Warding stones are used for more permanent wards. Runes, associated with the type of ward, are carved into the stone before the wards are cast and anchored to the stone. This all must be done in the location of where the stone will be placed, which is strongly advised to be in the middle of the land arranged to be protected, as well as berried for a stronger magical nature connection. _

He was pulled out of his reading when Hedwig landed on his shoulder, he pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes before focusing on the note attached to her leg. He smiled at Hedwig, “Thanks, girl.” Then took the note and unrolled it, reading it through.

_Dear Harry,_

_My name is Auror Mays, I have read your letter and decided it would be safer and of more convenience to you if I send an Auror to take you to MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) from there you can be taken to the department of international travel where can get a map of all the magical destinations in the US._

_Auror Mays._

Brilliant, he thought, he could get a personal escort, though Auror Mays was right, it’d be nice and way easier if he could get a map. He snorted and grabbed another piece of paper, writing down his address and sending the message away. He’d have to buy Hedwig some treats for all this flying she’s doing.

He looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was nearing afternoon tea. He put on his Dragonhide pants, which were quite comfortable for how tight they were, and buttoned up his Acromantula silk shirt. Looking at himself in the mirror he decided to loosely tuck in his shirt, so it hung out slightly. He jumped a bit in his sleek black shoes to break them in a little bit before grabbing his card and leaving for the café.

After enjoying a small bowl of soup, he was back in his room. Hedwig would be back soon which means that an Auror wouldn’t be far behind. As if she read his thoughts, Hedwig came soaring through the window and a distant bang was heard in the hotel hallway. He ran his fingers through her plumage.

A knock on the door; he opened it and a man with a fit build stood in front of him, “Are you the Auror that Auror Mays sent?” He tilted his head, eyes zeroing in on a piece of paper in the man’s hand.

“I am, would you be Harry?” His voice was full of amusement, Harry nodded, and the man continued, “I’m Auror Reed, here to escort you to MACUSA.” Harry blushed and nodded.

“Let me get something really quick and I’ll be right with you.” He dashed into the room and grabbed everything he needed; wands, muggle card, money pouch, phone, Hotel card and decided to add his passport in case something came up. He left his Birth Certificate behind feeling it was unnecessary.

He got back to the door and closed it, the door locking automatically.

“Do you have any guardians?” He led Harry outside the building and towards a back ally.

“Not at the moment, no.” The man held his arm out to Harry, “I’ll be apparating us to MACUSA.” Harry looked confusedly up at the man, just now noticing how short he was. “Apparation is wizard teleporting.” Harry nodded in understanding and grabbed the offered arm.

Instantly he was hit with such jarring sensation he found it difficult to hold on his afternoon tea, it was like being forced through a small tube. All too suddenly it stopped, he stumbled once he felt his feet connect with the ground again and covered his mouth with his hand, Bending over and groaning.

“Sorry, I should have warned you.” Harry glared half-heartedly at the Auror and straightened, wiping his mouth.

Once he was standing straight, he was able to see where they were. Standing on a slightly raised platform, they were in the middle of a giant hall, the floor was made of a shiny black brick and walls of black, gold and brown pillars. There were Wizard, Witches, and creatures alike walking in and out of the building. Owls flying around the building.

“Wow.” It truly looked like a Muggles description of Magical.

The Auror smiled down at the boy and began to walk, turning back when he wasn’t followed, “Coming.” Harry jerked and jogged to catch up.

They got onto into one of the many elevators that lined the wall, “Each floor has its own department, the floor we want to go to is on the 12th floor.” They stood in comfortable silence until the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“Alright, this is your stop, just go to the desk say what you need.” Harry got off and turned back to Auror Reed, “Thank you for doing this. Could you also thank Auror Mays for me?” The man chuckled and nodded.

Harry looked around, there was a long hallway, doors every ten meters or so but right in front of him was a desk; a man sitting behind it.

Approaching the desk, he cleared his throat, “Excuse me,” the man looked up and smiled, “I’m visiting, and I don’t know where anything is,” He said.

“Well, I’ll see if anyone is available for a walk-in appointment.” He looked through a think book and his eyes lit up, “Miss Galvan is currently free, she’s in room 23, I’ll let her know you’re on your way,” He gestured to the hallway.

Harry began wandering down the hall, quickly becoming bored with how bare it was. He huffed when he got to a door that read 23 on it, he knocked, and a voice called for him to come in.

He went inside and plopped himself in a chair. The room was nicely lit with a few big windows around the room, “They’re enchanted to take the look of the current weather outside.” He looked at her, she had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. “What can I help you with today?”

Right, he had shit to do, “I’m here to visit for a while but I forgot to do any research on the Magical places here so I’m a little lost.” He fidgeted in his seat, she turned in her seat and went to the wooden cabinet behind her desk, she pulled out a small fabric bag and turned back to him.

It was grey with a large golden circle on the middle of it, the center of the circle held a Phoenix flaring its wings, the words ‘Magical Congress of the United States of America’ was printed around it.

She put the bag down on her desk and opened it pulling out several pieces of parchment. “We give these to people visiting the country, it has a lot of information in them as well as an identification stating you are visiting. I just need your passport and for you to fill out a few forms so we can put your presence in the database.” She shifted through the papers that were in the bag then pulled out some pieces of parchment and handed them to him along with a pen. He noticed the lack of quill and had hope that the American Wizards weren’t as behind in the times as the British ones.

The papers were like the ones at Stark Tower only a lot more in-depth. He wondered when Pepper was going to contact him with the results, he knew they were going to come back positive; he didn’t doubt the goblins, but he was getting anxious waiting to meet his dad. He had only visited her yesterday; he knew they wouldn’t be done so soon.

Full name, Current Residence (This can be changed by visiting the D.I.T), Birth, Family Relations. He internally groaned, so many questions!

When he was finally done, he handed the papers and pen back to her along with his passport. Harry massaged his cramping hand, lightly flexing his sprained wrist. She cast a spell on his passport making a second, identical passport appear next to it, “This spell is a temporary duplication, the copied passport will disappear within the next week.” She gave him back his passport and looked over the papers. Her eyes momentarily widening at his name then looked back at him.

“All done,” She said and shuffled the paper to put it back in the back then handed it to him. He stood and shook her hand, “Thank you for your help.” He left the room with a sigh.

He got back down to the lobby and took a seat on one of the benches. He opened the bag and pulled out a small booklet and a small card. The card was mostly blank, it had a bunch of headers, but they weren’t filled out. He switched to the booklet, flipping through it but stopped when he read ‘Celant Ally’. Skimming through the text, he made out that it was the biggest Magical shopping district in the U.S, it would have been the biggest in the world, but China and Japan shared that title.

Just as he got up to leave for the Ally his phone pinged, it was from Pepper.

Pepper: Hello Mister Potter, we have the results for your test and require you to come to my office ASAP.

You: Thank you, I am on my way.

Stashing his phone in his pocket he flagged down a taxi and told the driver where he wanted to go. It seemed like he was checking his phone every two seconds, would Tony be there? Would Tony care about him? He closed his eyes and leaned against the taxi window, not really caring about how dirty it could be.

When he got there, he went up to the lady behind the desk who had a silent laugh at seeing him again.

“Miss Potts told me I was to meet her?” His stomach started to flip.

“Mmhm, just head straight up. Do you remember the way?” Harry nodded and made his way up to her office.

Through the corridor, up the elevator, and straight ahead. He stood in front of the door and knocked, having a ‘just do it’ moment.

The door opened revealing the auburn-haired woman. She opened the door wider and gestured for him to take a seat, before he even got to the seat she began to speak, “The results came back as positive.” She took her own seat and held her head in her hands.

The news seemed to be stressing her out, and he couldn’t help but feel responsible, “Sorry,” he winced.

“Don’t be, Tony may not be the parental type but if he had a child he’d want to know,” she said.

“Is Tony coming here?” his poor heart wouldn’t be able to handle it if she said no, he couldn’t do any more waiting.

“I’ve tried to contact him, but he hasn’t been answering his calls or messages. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do if he doesn’t show up.” She pulled out her phone and dialled a number only to huff seconds later and put it down.

She looked over at the clock on her desk, “I guess we could eat, what would you like?”

“It’s okay, I ate a few hours ago.” True story but he wasn’t going to let her waste her money on him.

“A drink then and don’t bother declining.” She was typing something into her phone and looked up at him.

“Chocolate milk please.” Woman are scary.

She nodded, pleased with his compliance, and ordered herself dinner and the kid his drink.

“Well then,” She took a deep breath, shoulders relaxing a bit, “If Tony shows up before it gets too late then we can talk things out but if he doesn’t then what will you do?”

“I guess I’ll just go back to my hotel room and wait for him to show,” he shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t have anything else to do apart from going to Celant Ally but if he heard her correct then he would be leaving the building until later tonight.

“You’re here alone?”

“Yeah, I don’t have anyone to bring.” No way in hell was he bringing the Dursleys.

Pepper started to feel guilty, this kid had travelled far for a chance at a family. He said he didn’t have anyone to bring so she was going to assume his mother was dead. If Tony turned this kid away, she was going to adopt him herself. She clenched her fists.

She nodded at him, “I’ll message you when he does show if he doesn’t tonight.”

Harry prayed to Merlin that he did, he didn’t want to wait any longer. The door opened and Harry felt excitement bloom in his chest before it was outgrown with nerves. He clenched his eyes, balled his fists and breathed deep. When he turned in his chair everything in him drained out and he was left as an empty puppet. Instead of the Tony Stark he’d seen in pictures, standing in the doorway was a large man in a suit.

Pepper stood immediately and went to him, “Thank you, Happy. You’re a lifesaver.” She took the McDonald’s happy meal he was holding and took a bit of some fries. Harry took the milk she gave to him and took a deep gulp; it was bloody delicious. When he turned back to the door the happy guy was gone. It was strange, he didn’t look happy he looked tired.

“That was Happy Hogan, Tony named him Happy.” That made more sense.

“Thank you for the milk, Miss Potts,” Harry said.

“Please call me Pepper, I don’t mind.” Harry nodded.

They sat in silence, Pepper munching away at a cheeseburger and Harry sipping his rich chocolate milk. It was truly the best milk he’d ever had, he made sure to commit the brand to memory.

When they were interrupted a second time Harry nearly choked on his milk, a man barged into the room. He was wearing stained pants and shirt and he held a box of blueberries.

“Did you know they have a 2 for 1 sale on the blueberries at the moment? I didn’t but now I do and so do you.” He took a step towards Pepper but froze at the sight of Harry.

“I swear, adults are getting younger and younger, is he a new employee? He looks 8, let me guess, you’re like 30?” the man, no, Tony, shook his head.

Harry sat on his chair and took his dad in. His hair was a mess as was his attire, his pants and shirt had all sorts of stains on them and they were creased. His skin was slightly dirty, he had a light tan and a few scars. It hit him all at once. Merlin, this was his dad. His parent, family, relative. He turned back to his drink, suddenly feeling like this was a mistake. He should have thought about Tony, what if he didn’t want a kid? What if he was too busy or didn’t like children?

“Tony! I have been trying to contact you for days. Why haven’t you picked up?” Pepper stood out of her chair, hands planted of the desk and her face red with anger, “No, don’t answer. This Tony is your son, you would have known about him if you answer my messages. What if I had called you to say I was being held hostage or a nuclear bomb was about to explode just down the street. Hadn’t it occurred to you that I might need your help with a life or death situation?” After she was done with her rant she sat back down and angrily shovelled fries into her mouth.

Tony laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck looking at Harry from the corner of his eyes, “Very funny Pepper. I know how kids are made and I always use protection. What’s that saying kids use these days? Ah! ‘don’t be silly, wrap your willy’,” he rambled.

Harry grimaced at his indecency.

Pepper sighed, placing her fries down, “Tony, he came in the other day, he showed me his birth certificate and I had Bruce do a DNA test.”

“I get it Pepper; I’ll be sure to answer your calls next time. You can pay the actor now, the jokes over.” He was starting to look a little panicked. Harry winced.

“This is no joke; I have the results right here.” She stood and handed Tony the results, he grabbed them and clenched his hands. Eyes racking over the words.

“But I have never been silly,” Tony almost whined. “Who’s the mother?”

It was Harrys turn to speak, his stomach was fluttering with butterflies, “Lily Evans. Her name was Lily Evans.” His voice was quiet, trembling slightly. He took a deep breath and held it, calming himself down.

Tony took a moment to stare at him and he looked away, taking a gulp of his chocolate milk. Tony seemed hesitant to look away, “I don’t recognize the name.” He rubbed a hand under his chin in thought.

“She had red hair and green eyes, I was told my eyes are the same as hers,” Harry spoke again, slowly gaining confidence. He looked up and gave Tony a chance to see his eyes.

Tony hummed in thought before squinting at Harry. His eyes suddenly lit up, “The flaming lass with eyes like grass!” he shouted.

Harry nearly spit out his milk and Pepper look at Tony incredulously. The man just scratched the back of his head, “We were drunk and coming up with rhymes to describe each other. Hers for me was ‘The famous intellectual with the face of a bowtruckle’. Whatever a bowtruckle is.”

Harry tilted his head, the bowtruckle sounded so familiar. When he connected the dots, he spat out his milk. He’d read about Bowtruckles in his first year from ‘fantastic beasts and where to find them’ by Newt Scamander. Bowtruckles were tiny tree creatures, they were really cute from afar but up close they looked a little funny.

Their beady, black eyes being as close to the edge of their faces as they could be and their mouths going straight across their face. His mother had insulted Tony Stark to his face, he didn’t know if she meant it or if she said it for the shits and giggles but Harry found it hilarious. He’d started to laugh, clutching his sides.

“Am I missing something? Is it the bowtruckle thing?” Tony looked so confused.

Harry steadied his breath and wiped his eyes, “A Bowtruckle is a miniature tree-like creature that is said to live in Western England, Southern Germany, Scandinavia. They’re said to be very cute but their faces are a little off. My mum was insulting you.” Tony looked a little insulted before pouting.

Pepper watched the two converse and smiled softly. Harry seemed to have come out of his shell a little and Tony looked to be getting over the initial shock, though she knew it was going to hit him like a ton of bricks later.

She cleared her throat to interrupt the back and forth banter. Harry looked over at Pepper and blushed when he realized he’d had a relatively normal convocation with Tony.

“We have a lot to talk about, like where Harry will live.” She pulled out a note pad. Harry suspected she was going to be writing this down.

“Harry? Your name is Harry?” Tony turned to look at him.

He nodded, “Harry James Potter.”

“Born July 31st, 2000.” Pepper took over after he said his name.

“13. I stand by what I said earlier, you look 8,” Tony voiced.

Harry’s face grew red again with embarrassment and he gritted his teeth. He had the Dursleys to thank for that.

“Please get back on track.” Pepper had her pen held on the paper and she was leaning onto her desk, looking exhausted.

“Right, well, I don’t think I’ll be a very good parent. Can’t you go back to your mum? If you want money, then I’ll give you enough to last the rest of your life.” Tony rambled, growing slightly pale. He took a seat in a chair next to his, turning his body so he could face Harry and Pepper.

Harry clenched his fists, only stopping when his wrist flared with pain, “My mother is dead,” he spoke through slightly gritted teeth.

“Sorry to hear that but kid, I really- I’m no parent. I can barely keep myself alive.”

“I didn’t come here to find someone to look after me, I came here because you are the only family I have, I don’t want your money, or fame, or for you to baby me. I just wanted to get to know my dad. I am fully capable of looking after myself,” he growled before taking a long drink from his milk. He turned to Pepper and answered her question, “I’m staying at a hotel down the road and I can continue to do that.”

Pepper glared at Tony, “Are you sure? I can set up a room-”

“Don’t worry about, I won’t be staying long enough. School starts up again in three weeks so I’ll be returning to London so I can attend.” It was a little less than three weeks and he honestly didn’t mind missing a year, it would be nice to get a break from the yearly death threats.

“It’s getting late, I should get going.” Harry stood, grabbing his milk.

“Alright, stay safe, Harry.” Pepper sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to win. She and Tony were going to be having a long talk later.

Harry sighed and left the building, he’d expected that, though at the moment he couldn’t pinpoint what ‘that’, his mind was just so jumbled. The wind was cool and felt like thousands of needles prickling his face.

When he got back to his room, he got changed and buried himself in his blankets. Hedwig had come over to comfort him. He was starting to feel a little homesick. He wanted to go, he wanted to be at the Weasleys, enjoying a loud, filling meal. He wanted to be sharing a room with Ron and chatting about Quidditch before bed. Tears filled his eyes and he fell into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a while to get this chapter done and the meeting of Harry and Tony stressed me for some reason but it's done.
> 
> Once again, feel free to tell me if I made any mistakes, or there isn't enough dialog or descriptions.  
I love constructive criticism, but please don't be rude about it.


	3. Harry's day... or not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry for the delay. Nearly two months ago NZ went into level 4 lockdown, we had online class during this time which stressed me so much since I had a bunch of tests I was supposed to be studying for. I wasn't able to find time to write the next chapter.
> 
> Luckily, we came out of quarantine two weeks ago and since then I've been juggling my biology report and writing chapter 3. With my biology report now handed in, I've spent all weekend writing and editing. 
> 
> I proudly present to you, Discovering Family Chapter 3.
> 
> EDIT: My eyes and brain have betrayed me and wrote the journey to Malibu only a few hours long. I edited it and made it three days, you don't have to reread it. I haven't added anything plot changing so you are safe not to read it.

“You idiot. Why in God’s name would you say something like that?!” She was mad, upset, bordering on livid. She knew, she just knew Tony would say something idiotic.

“I didn’t mean for it to come out like that!” Tony stood from his seat and began to pace. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. Everything I said I meant; I just didn’t mean to say it like that.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

“You meant it?! You told the kid you don’t want him; while you may not want to raise a kid, you didn’t have to send him off as on his merry way. He’s a child,” Pepper said, her anger melting away being replaced with agitation.

“I can’t raise a kid Pep, you know that!”

“Then don’t raise him, you heard Harry; not that I like it, but it sounds like the kid can raise himself. If you’re not going to cooperate then we’ll have to come up with a compromise. She stared intently at Tony, daring him to go against her.

“Fine. Something that doesn’t require me to mother anything.” Tony sat back down, leg jumping up and down.

“All right. Well, you don’t want to raise him, I don’t want you to abandon him, and he just wants to get to know you. What if he visits every weekend?” Pepper took out her notepad from earlier and began to write on the blank paper.

“He said he has school in a few weeks, that’s only like 6 days counting Saturdays and Sundays.” He said, “What if I buy him a house next to mine? That way he can visit whenever he wants.”

“You are not buying him a house, Tony! though it’s a good idea; being close by I mean, not the house,” Pepper scowled at Tony. She was ready to go home and open a fresh bottle of wine.

“What if he lived in the house with us, there are plenty of spare bedrooms,” She added as an afterthought.

“He said he didn’t want to be looked after, plus before he left, he declined your offer of setting up a room,” Tony frowned.

“He probably just didn’t want to be here any longer. I don’t blame him,” She muttered the last part, clicking her pen before writing something down. “So, I’ll set up a room for him and you go and apologize. How does that sound?”

Tony spluttered, “Why do I have to apologize?!” He whined.

“Because you upset him, if you apologize then things will be less awkward _if_ he decides to come and stay,” Pepper stared at Tony.

Tony resigned to his fate with a grumble of, “Fine.”

“Good, I’ll start his room tomorrow and I’ll give you three days to face him.” Tony only frowned more but nodded. He knew that once Pepper decided something, trying to change her mind resulted in summoning the devil.

*LINE BREAK*

When Harry woke the sun was already shining brightly in his room. Hedwig was nowhere to be seen, he guessed she was out hunting.

He sighed and rolled over, out of the way of the sun. Bottle-green eyes closed. His dad didn’t want him, no, he just didn’t think he could look after Harry. He knew his dad wasn’t casting him off, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was.

Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, his breath hitched, and he released a horrible sob. He tried to keep it in, he held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut but it only made it harder to breathe, so he gave in. Throwing his sheets over his head, he curled into himself and cried out his pain, pain from yesterday, pain from second year, pain from first year, pain from his childhood. Growing up all he wanted was some long-lost aunt or uncle to come and take him away. He’d get a bedroom, no more chores, and he’d be able to eat dinner with them like a real family. He was so tried, alone, sad. Sure, He had the Weasleys, but nothing can replace blood relatives, someone who shared your blood and loved you unconditionally. He cried and wept until he was reduced to whimpers.

Eventually his harsh breathes smoothed out and he felt his stomach rumble. He groaned and got out of bed. He felt more like a zombie than a wizard. He dragged himself over to the bathroom, and when he looked into the mirror, he realized he looked more like a zombie than a wizard. He had deep bags under his red-rimmed eyes, dried tear streaks lining his face, and chapped lips.

He didn’t particularly feel like a shower, so he just brushed his teeth and washed his face. The cool water helped to reduce the red in his eyes. Once he was done in the bathroom he walked over to his suitcase and pulled out today’s outfit; a short-sleeved black top with his hoodie, which he quickly cast a _Scourgify_ on, dark jeans, and trainers.

He grabbed the essentials before leaving his room. Whipping out his phone he looked for the closest bakery.

It was late in the afternoon; people were trying to get home from work, so he decided to walk. Just as he was rounding the corner, he heard a gasp. Turning to where he heard the sound, he saw a man staring at him, or more specifically, his scar; which had been revealed when a gust of wind swept his hair to the side. He quickly flattened his fringe over his scar and turned back to keep walking, his head down.

He walked around the corner and sighed when he saw he wasn’t being followed. A rough hand grabbed his arm and dragged him into a side ally. He tried to yell but no sound came out; he’d either lost his voice or someone cast a _Silencio_ on him, the latter made more sense.

He was thrown against a cold, stone wall, the same rough hands holding his shoulders.

“You’re Harry Potter!” The voice was that of a male, but it cracked at every word.

He struggled against the hands, “I’ll let you go when you give me an autograph, no, three autographs. Two for my kids and one to sell; it’ll go for a lot.” The man rambled, greed flashing in his eyes.

With difficulty, he reached into his back pocket and grabbed his wand without being seen, struggling to cast a wordless _Finite Incantatem. _When he couldn't do it after a few attempts he started to focus on _what _he wanted his magic to do. The technique worked. He threw his head back against the hard wall and yelled for help, but the man just put his hand over his mouth.

“M ot ging ou anting,” Harry tried to say but his words were muffled by the hand. The man lifted his hand a little so it hovered over his mouth, allowing Harry to speak “I’m not giving you anything,” he spat out finally being able to speak.

“Then we’ll be here all day because I’m not leaving without those autographs.” Harry shivered at the insane glint that was appearing in the man’s eyes. Merlin, some wizards where completely off their rocker.

“Let the boy go and you can leave unharmed.” Harry almost cried in relief but he’d used all his tears last night and earlier that morning.

He turned his head as much as he could while he was held against the wall and saw a tall, muscular man. From the little light that was coming from the entrance of the ally, he could see that man was wearing a grey shirt and blue joggers.

The man holding him eyed the newcomer with scepticism before the insane glint turned to recognition then fear. He let Harry go and ran out of the ally, straightening his shirt at the opening then walked away as nothing happened. Harry, who was not expecting the quick release, sunk to the dirty ground. He groaned and threw his head back against the wall, again. Today was not his day.

A hand entered his vision and he looked up at his saviour. He reached to grab it but quickly switched hands, Doctor Banner would probably amputate all his limbs if he re-hurt his wrist.

The man was so strong that he lifted Harry off his feet while pulling up. He stumbled to regain his balance then turned to thank his hero.

“Thank you, I’m Harry,” he held his hand out for a handshake.

“Steve Rogers. I saw you being pulled into the ally from across the street. What are you doing wandering the city alone?” Steve took Harry’s hand in a shake, his pam dwarfing his own.

“I was just getting breakfast. There’s a bakery down the street,” Harry said avoiding the question.

“Breakfast this late?”

“I slept in,” Harry answered like it was an acceptable answer. And if you argued him on it he would stand by his answer till his death.

“Well, let me walk you there then.” Steve began to walk out of the ally, not giving Harry a chance to protest.

“I’m fine walking there myself, not that I don’t appreciate the offer.” He wanted to be alone today, he hadn’t recharged his social battery enough to have a stranger accompany him to breakfast.

Once they left the ally, Harry was hit with disorientation. The light momentarily blinding him and the sounds coming back so suddenly deafening him. After getting used to the light and sounds he looked up at Steve, getting a good look at him, he recognised him from somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. They twisted and turned to walk through the crowd, Steve’s giant form parting the crowd like Moses did the Red sea.

“I guess that explains why you were dragged into an ally,” Steve snorted and looked down at Harry who blushed.

“Then let me buy you something in return for being my bodyguard,” Harry said and pulled out his card as they entered the store. Steve laughed and opened his mouth to decline.

“You can say no but then I’ll scream and act an innocent child being molested,” Harry glared at the blond, he didn’t like that Steve went out of his way to walk him here but since he did it any way he was going to get even by getting him something to eat. He disliked being in dept.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. He couldn’t leach off a kid but if he didn’t then he’d surely make a scene, so he settled for getting the cheapest thing, which happened to be a vanilla donut. “Then I guess I’ll get a donut,” He sighed.

Harry grinned in triumph and walked over to the counter with a bounce in his step, “Hello,” he chirped.

The cashier smiled at him and asked for his order.

“Could I please get two vanilla donuts, two bottles of Puhoi Valley chocolate milk, and a sausage roll with tomato sauce.” He swiped his card paying for the food and bounced back over to Steve carrying a tray of food. He went over to a table that was outside the front of the shop and placed the tray down.

He took a seat and glared at Steve when he hesitated. With Steve finally sitting down he gave him a donut and a bottle of the good chocolate milk. Then he gave himself a donut, a bottle of chocolate milk, and his sausage roll.

He munched happily on his donut, delighted that he was able to pay Steve back for saving him and walking him to the bakery. He even got Steve the best chocolate milk in the world even though he didn’t ask for it.

Steve, on the other hand, was eating his donut while looking at Harry. The kid was sneaky and seemed way too happy with himself, he was vibrating in his seat as he took a sip from his milk. He honestly reminded Steve of a hyperactive kitten with an attitude problem.

“Do you have anyone looking after you?” Steve started.

“Not at the moment no, the choice is his, and if he says no then I’ll be going back to the UK.” Was Harry’s cryptic reply. He was currently living alone and he did want to spend time with his dad but if the feeling wasn’t reciprocated then he would go back to the UK, not to the Dursleys though. He’d try to find the Weasleys and if he couldn’t then he would just stay in a hotel near Kings Cross

“So, you’re currently alone?” Steve pushed for a more explanatory answer, worry alight in his eyes.

“I’m staying at a hotel down the road so I’m not living on the streets if that’s what you mean.” He took a bit from his sausage roll after pouring sauce on it.

Steve sighed in relief, good to know he wasn’t dealing with a homeless kid. He’d feel awful having a homeless kid pay for his lunch.

Just as Harry finished his sausage roll a horde of giggling girls walked past, “Guys look, it’s Captain America!” one of them squealed.

“Can I get a photo?!”

“Oh! Can you sign my phone case?!”

“You’re even hotter in person.”

They surrounded him and screeched requests left and right. Their yelling bought even more fans until their table looked like a ball of ants after heavy rain.

Steve, not sure what to do, began to comply with their demands.

Harry wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin and sat back sipping his milk, looking rather amused. Captain America, he should have remembered that he worked with his dad. Harry had read up on him a bit after researching his dad. His name was Steve Rogers. It was rather funny watching someone else get trampled for a change. Curse his scar.

Once the crowd had died down, which took a while considering Harry had managed to finish his milk, Steve took a seat and a long swig of his milk.

Harry snorted and stood up, “Well, I have to go.” He put his rubbish in the bin and quickly dashed inside to give the tray back. Steve was standing by the table with his drink.

“Are you going home or are you staying out. I don’t think it’s a good idea with you being on your own.” Steve frowned.

“I haven’t decided yet. I only left today because I was hungry and didn’t want to eat at the usual café.” Harry began walking in a random direction, Steve following close behind.

He didn’t have anything planned. If he hadn’t of been hungry this morning then he would have stayed in bed all day, though being outside was nice. He could go to Celant Ally and get those pictures and camera sorted out but if Steve was going to follow him all day then he couldn’t do that.

Maybe he could do some muggle shopping, get his friends a souvenir. That sounded nice.

“I was thinking of going souvenir shopping for my friends.”

“I know the perfect place.” Steve flagged down a taxi and they both got in. Harry found it quite amusing that he didn’t care that he was still wearing his work out uniform.

“Shouldn’t you get changed first?” They could head back to Steve’s place and let him change or just buy a new outfit.

Usually, Harry wouldn’t go out with someone he didn’t know, stranger danger and all that but Steve was a superhero, Captain America, that made it pretty safe.

Steve looked down at his clothing and blushed, “Maybe I should go change, you wouldn’t mind a quick detour, would you?” Steve asked Harry.

He shook his head and Steve leaned over to the taxi driver and gave the man his address. They sat in silence, Harry looked down at his phone in his hand and wondered when Hermione was going to call if she ever did.

The taxi stopped and Harry looked up and saw Stark Tower. He internally groaned at being here again. “You live there?”

“Yeah, there are a few floors at the top reserved for living space.” Steve avoided saying the Avengers all lived together, if someone overheard then it would only take one well planted-bomb to kill them all. Of course, they had security but it was better to be on the safe side.

Harry followed Steve into the building and into a concrete stairwell off to the side, there they got into an elevator, different to the one he’d be in, mainly because it spoke.

“Good Afternoon, Mister Rogers. I see you have bought a guest with you from your run.” Harry turned, looking for the voice. Last he remembered; muggles didn't have ghosts.

“That’s JARVIS, Tony Starks AI,” Steve said down to Harry.

The elevator dinged after a fast ride up and the doors slid open revelling a small room with hooks and racks along the wall, Harry assumed they were for jackets and shoes. They got out of the elevator and Steve was quick to tell him to wait in the room while he got changed, the blond disappearing down a hallway. He snorted once Steve was gone, whether he had been told to stay or not, he was going exploring. He went down the same hallway Steve had vanished down but took a left turn instead of a right one.

He walked down the rather short hallway which had one door on either side of the wall when he opened one of the doors, he saw it was a bedroom. It was very large with a queen-sized bed positioned in the middle of the wall, black bed sheets and, clear bed sidetables. There was nothing else in the room apart from two more doors, which he guessed were a wardrobe and a bathroom, as well as a desk.

He closed the door and continued, opening the other door. Is was the same as the other; colour, layout, and size.

The end of the hallway showed him an open entry. He froze just at the corner when he heard a sound. He crouched and looked around the corner and say the one and only Tony Stark sitting on a couch eating a burger. The room he was in was a modern and very spacious lounge. A black fluffy couch in front of a gigantic TV mounted onto the wall.

He watched Tony for a bit longer, he seemed to have spaced out and was moving from memory. After getting his fill and getting bored he leaned back and went over to the elevator. Steve was waiting for him, his arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised.

“Have fun?” he asked.

“Much, there you have a very big lounge,” was Harry’s sarcastic response. He walked over to the elevator and waited for Steve as if he hadn’t gone against the blond’s instructions. Steve was now wearing beige plants with a blue plaid shirt.

“yes, it was extra space and Stark decided to add in a TV, and of course no one can enjoy watching TV without a couch.” The doors dinged open and they hopped in, going all the way down.

Once they got outside, Harry noticed it was getting colder, making him glad he bought his hoodie. Steve called another cab and they were off towards the store Steve had recommended. When Harry got out of the cab he noticed they were outside a shopping mall.

Harry stumbled to catch up to Steve, who had made his way inside. They dodged people as they had done hours before. Harry got dragged into the store when he was about to walk past, not seeing Steve turning in.

“If you get lost in this place, you’ll never get found,” Steve joked, causing Harry to gulp.

He looked around and smiled, this place was great. They had things from clothes to phone accessories. He walked off and began to look around. He’d need to get something for his friends; Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, he was sure Mister Weasley would enjoy something too, he could get something for Neville as well.

Steve followed Harry around, carrying a basket, as he excitedly made his way through the store, once again reminded Steve of how the boy acted like a kitten. The basket was full before Harry was done, Steve dropped it onto the counter and reached into his pocket for his card when Harry cleared his throat angrily, narrowing his eyes at Steve before pulling out his card and paying for his things.

Everything he bought was put into a reusable bag before they left the store.

“You got quite a lot there,” Steve eyed the bag in Harrys’ hands.

“Yeah, well, I guess I have quite a lot of people waiting for me back home.” He’d gone a little overboard, that he admitted but he was sure everyone was going to enjoy what he got them. He couldn’t wait to send them out.

“Is there anything else you need to do today?” Steve asked when they stopped outside the mall, waiting for a ride.

Harry shook his head, “The only thing I can think of is getting dinner out. McDonalds or something, I’ve heard they’re good.” He’d overheard some Muggleborns around Hogwarts complaining about not being able to get McDonald’s or other fast foods.

“Heard they’re good? Never had any yourself?” Steve steered them off towards a McDonald’s building down the street.

“I go to a boarding school for 9 months of the year and when I’m not at school I never get the chance to go out.” Steve opened the door for Harry who yawned and walked in before waiting for Steve to enter and take the lead.

The place was busy, people talking, random beeps. Feeling slightly overwhelmed Harry looked up at Steve. They stood off to the side.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know. What do you recommend?” Harry was starting to feel the effects of being out in public most of the day, he rubbed at his eyes and covered his mouth as he yawned again.

“A Happy Meal, though you can get them with a burger or nuggets.” Seeing the line getting longer, Steve put his hands onto Harry’s shoulders and moved him to join the end.

“Nuggets sound nice,” Harry said quietly.

Steve looked down at Harry, smiling softly at the childish actions. It was reassuring, after seeing Harry act more mature than someone else his age would be, it was nice to see that he hadn’t been forced to grow up to fast and that he was capable of acting his age. “Would you like sauce with it?”

“Yes, please.” Harry nodded

“And what would you like to drink. They have a bunch of soda to choose from and milkshakes.” The front of the line drew nearer.

“Mmm, Chocolate milkshake?” He asked.

“Coming right up.” Steve looked around, looking for an empty table. Steve pointed at a corner where a free table sat, “There’s a free seat of over there, go sit down and I’ll bring your food.”

Harry began to make his way over before he turned around and fumbled for his card, but Steve just shook his head.

“This one is on me. Just this one,” He added, seeing Harry opening his mouth to protest.

“Thank you,” Harry said, sincerity thick in his voice.

He dodged around everyone in his way and all but threw himself into a seat, groaning as his muscles got a chance to relax. He put his bag on the floor by his feet and rested his head against the wall, eyes closed as he felt the day catch up to him. He’d be having an early night when he got back to his room.

Maybe tomorrow he could just do nothing. Stay in his room, have food delivered, fall asleep in the bath, finish reading another book. That sounded nice.

All sound started to blur together as he was drawn deeper into thought.

If his math was correct then he had just under three weeks until school started back up, he found it hard imagining himself here for three weeks, he would eventually run out of things to do and get bored. The thought of travelling out beyond New York crossed his mind and he took a second to consider it. He could go to Paris or Italy, Rome or Japan. There were just so many places he could go and if he only stayed a few days then he could get quite a few places into his trip. The language barriers would be a problem, but the Wizarding World has been around for centuries, if no one has created some sort of translation spell then the Wizards and Witches of Earth aren’t as great as they thought they were. He’d like to travel the world one day, he concluded that it just wouldn’t be this year.

Going to the Burrow with the Weasleys also sounds like an excellent idea. To eat Misses Weasley’s food, and to talk with Fred and George.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Steve placed a plastic tray on the table. He looked up at Steve who took a seat and apologised for scaring him.

“No worries, I let my mind wander for a second.” He picked up a small red box, pulling the tabs to the side and opening the box. He grabbed a smaller box from inside the red one and opened it, revealing six golden nuggets.

He dug into his food, moaning when he got a taste of his milkshake.

“Thank you for today Steve, it was nice to have some company for once.” He offered him a nugget and ate it when Steve declined.

“That’s fine, sometimes a little company is nice. It was nice to not go straight back to the tower,” Steve said in reply. He reached into his pockets and pulled out his phone, reminding Harry that he too had a phone and that he was waiting for a phone call. “I’ll give you my number, that way if you need someone to keep you company or if you need help, I’m just a call away.”

They switched numbers and Harry glanced outside. Traffic was still as busy as it was during the day, though it was quieter without everyone on the streets talking. The sun had begun to set and lights in buildings down the road began to illuminate the area.

“It’s getting late, I’ll walk you home.” Too tired to complain, Harry stood up, grabbing his bag and followed Steve, they caught a cab further down the street and Harry told the driver where to go.

He clambered out of the cab, paying for his ride and thanking Steve again. As he was paying for his trip, he slyly handed over a $50, telling the man that he was paying for Steve’s bill also. As he walked inside, he smiled, not just because his terrible morning had become an awesome day but because he managed to pay Steve back for buying him dinner.

When he opened his door, he greeted Hedwig and began to undress, emptying his pockets and placing his shopping bag on the couch. He smiled into his pillow, curling up before falling asleep.

\----------

The next day was Harry’s day. The first thing that morning he’d rung up the front desk and pre-ordered breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After having his breakfast, he ran a bath – extra hot – and added bubble bath to it.

He stripped and got in, the hot water immediately soothing his muscles. As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard a knock, the black-haired boy ignored the sound in favour of the imminent slumber. He got a few seconds of rest before the knock sounded again, he groaned loudly to stave off the metaphorical tears.

Groaning again as he pulled himself up and out of the tub, rubbing down his chest and wrapping the smothering towel around his shoulders, trying to conserve the heat from the bathwater.

As he stepped foot out of the bathroom, he saw Hedwig trying to open the window he’d closed this morning. On the other side of the window was a barrage of owls. He scrambled to open the window and watched with growing horror as they all flew inside, dropping off packages, then flew out.

He’d hoped no one had been looking up, it’d look pretty weird seeing hundreds of owls flying inside the hotel then flying back outside and off to find rest.

Once all the owls were gone he walked over to the table the packages had been dropped off at and read his name on one of the envelopes attached to a box. He looked at Hedwig to get her judgement on the idea; she gave him a cross between a hoot and a bark making him turn back and pick up one of the mystery parcels. He tied his towel around his waist, huffing when it reached the ground.

He opened the letter first and dropped it with a curse when he read the words inside.

_Happy Birthday, mate!_

_I didn’t know what to get you this year, so I went through all of mums’ magazines to come up with something. I saw something I’d think you’ll like but I couldn’t afford it, but… I talked with Ginny, Fred, and George and we decided to all pitch in for the gift. So, this is from all of us. _

_We hope you like it!_

_-Ron_

_Now that Ronny is gone, we get you all to ourselves, Harrykins. As Ronald has previously stated we all pitched in for this one. We also threw in a few extra things we hope you’ll enjoy. Ya ’know, have fun, loosen up, cause some havoc._

_Anywho, we can’t wait to see you again in September._

_Til then_

_-Fred and George._

_Hello Harry, thank you again for saving me last year I really appreciate it. Ron has been going on and on about seeing you on the train in September and it is getting really annoying, as is his constant talk about how brave and Gryffindor he was last year. Fred and George have come so close to getting grounded in the past month that I’m beginning to think mum is on the brink of insanity. _

_Can’t wait to see you again._

_-Ginny._

The entire note was written on the same piece of parchment. He was curious as to what the gift was but first, he had to get over the fact he’d completely forgotten his birthday. His birthday, one day after Neville’s birthday, he’d forgotten it. Though, with all the excitement at the time, it was no real surprise. Those poor birds must have been flying for days to reach him.

He sighed and put the letter down and picked up the box. It was pretty small and wrapped in plain brown paper. He untied the twine and inside sat a hand-sized black box on top of a flat brown box. He grabbed the smaller one first and opened it.

He felt tears well up in his eyes. It was a strange feeling, what he was feeling now. His friends were known for their lack of money, not that this deterred Harry, but that fact made this gift all the more special considering it must have cost a small fortune. Sitting on top of a small, white cushion was a small silver snake, it curled around itself a few times and lay peacefully.

When he opened the box up completely, he saw a note stuck to the top of the box.

_Congratulations on coming this far…_

Harry snorted.

_…so basically, in mums’ magazine, we saw an ad for a small store in Diagon that sold old antique jewellery. We looked and saw this. Apparently, it was owned by Salazar Slytherin himself before he died, and as much as I loathe anything to do with that git, we thought the bracelet would suit you. We managed to talk down the price because only someone who can speak parseltongue can wear it. _

_But the awesomeness does not end there, you can also use it as a spy to information from the Slytherins. We don’t know how to work it but we’re sure you’ll figure it out. _

He looked back down at the snake in wonder, he held the box up to his face and concentrated.

*Hello,* he hissed, the transition into parseltongue easy with him looking at a snake.

The snake twitched and looked up at him, it’s eyes a black onyx.

*A speaker,* it’s hissing sounded a little rough, Harry guessed it was from not talking to anyone for so long and the fact it was made of silver.

*I’m Harry, what’s your name?* he needed to know that name of the snake, calling the snake ‘it’ seemed wrong, even though it was a bracelet.

*Master Slytherin gave me no name,* it roughly hissed.

*Would you like to pick a name then?*

*Throughout my time with Master Slytherin, I overheard him talking about a King of Snakes. ‘King’ sounds very appealing.* It’s rough hissing softened slightly.

Harry assumed that the ‘King of Snakes’ that Slytherin had been talking about was the Basilisk he’d faced last year. He thought about it for a second. When he read the page of parchment, he’d found in Hermione’s grip last year, he’d read the book refer to the Basilisk as ‘Serpentium Rex’ the translation next to it. ‘Rex’ meant King.

*How does Rex sound? It means King in Latin.* He saw the snake nod. *So, ah, how do you work?*

*Simple, all you have to do is tell me what you want. My primary use is as a bangle, though with my size Master Slytherin sometimes had me eavesdropping,* Rex hissed.

*Oh, uh, could you please…bangle?* How are you supposed to word a question like that?! He grumbled and watched as Rex slithered down his hand and wrapped around his uninjured wrist, head laying near its tail. He closed the box and put it down, opening the second, larger brown box that was under the bangle.

Three ‘W’s were crudely drawn on top of the box. He pulled it out and opened it. Inside was what looked to be candy and another note.

_No one knows about this, so you better not go snitching, anyway; Welcome to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. What you see before you are our very own pranking products that we are still in the process of making. Don’t worry about poisoning anyone, they have all been tested by Lee, so they are safe. There is a note on each candy and what they do inside._

True to their word there was indeed another note. The box was separated into five small compartments, nearly every one filled with candy. The note was similar to a muggle business card. There were pictures and information on all five types of candy.

There were Canary Creams, Decoy Detonations, Fever Fudge, Ton-Tongue Toffies, and Instant Darkness Powder. Most of it would help him get out of a pinch. Only the Canary Creams and Ton-Tongue Toffies seemed like prank products.

He spent the next hour going through all the gifts. Mister and Misses Weasley made him a bunch of baked goods as well as a pair of black and green knitted gloves. Hermione sent him a blank diary that readout ‘inspirational’ quotes every time he opened it. Hagrid got him a box fall of assorted wizard treats.

He packed everything up, keeping Rex on his wrist. He sat down on his bed and looked down at the towel covering his legs, he groaned and held his head in his hands.

He stood back up and went back to the bathroom, determined to finish his Harry day. He looked down at the depressing bath, no steam rose from the water and the bubbles had all long since disappeared. He drained the water and refilled it, adding more bubble bath. He told Rex about his plan to have a bath and set the curled-up snake on the counter, on top of a flannel next to his ring necklace.

He smiled down at the full bath, the steam rising once again and the bubbles covering the surface.

He hung up his towel and got back in, finally closing his eyes succumbing to sleep.

\------

Tony sighed as he hunted down his son. Pepper had only given him his name and birthdate nothing more. He’d spent all of yesterday thinking everything through. He’d been an ass, unintentionally.

He was no parent. Having his son, his child, flesh, and blood, just come and introduce himself scared him. The prospect of that responsibility, of looking after another life was terrifying. He couldn’t just accept a child and raise it like he had done so from birth because that was impossible. Developing any parental instinct took years and his son was already 13. 13 years alive without Tony knowing. It made him think if he had any other children he didn’t know about.

But Pepper was right, that’s why he was searching for him. Even if Pepper had been wrong, he’d still go looking for his son to make sure he got home safe but that wasn’t the case. He had been wrong, not Pepper. The way his words had come out was all wrong, he wasn’t meant to make it sound like he wanted his son gone, he was just freaking out, trying to get the fact that he was no parent out there. Trying to come up with some way to still be in contact with his son without taking on the responsibility of a parent.

Before his outburst they had been hitting it off, Harry had said that he was capable of looking after himself, even though all kids say that the way Harry said it made it more believable.

He had spent most of yesterday at his tower, working and eating to get his mind off of it.

Harry had said he was staying at a hotel down the road, so all it took was a quick sweep of the area and checking all the loggings within the past month and he found him. He memorised the address and room number and dressed as inconspicuously as possible before leaving.

He drove one of his cars, which he’d kept parked underneath his tower, off towards the hotel which only took a few minutes, but it would give his son some privacy if he did decide to come.

He parked in the tenant parking space and entered the building. When he had tracked down the room his son was staying in, he took a breath and knocked on the door.

\------

He yawned and blinked, wondering what had woken him. He quickly held his glasses to his eyes; looking at the time he knew it wasn’t his lunch, so he just ignored it, putting his glasses back down.

Much like last time, there was a second knock, however, unlike last time he cursed loudly. The water had already gotten cold and his fingers were a little wrinkly, he would have to get out eventually, now was a better time than any.

He pulled himself out of the bath, towelling himself down when the knock sounded for the third time.

“Yeah, I get it, just give me a moment!” he called out, to disgruntled from being woken up to care for manners. He wrapped a smaller towel around his waist, considering the last one touched the ground. He quickly dried his wrist wrap with his wand and grabbed his necklace and Rex from the counter, the necklace sitting at his sternum, and Rex curled up around his wrist.

He opened his door, squinting at the sunlight that momentarily blinded him, when the blurry world didn’t right itself, he rubbed his eyes and realised he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He squinted at the figure before him, “Who are you?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one before,” the, obviously male, chucked nervously.

Harry groaned, recognising that voice. He really wished he could send him off, but he needed to get his glasses before he got a headache, so, he just waved him in and walked back to the bathroom and got his glasses.

When he left the bathroom again, he saw Tony standing awkwardly just beyond the front door. He hadn’t expected anyone over so there were no free seats, he just invited Tony to take a seat on his bed, which he did.

“Did I interrupt something?” he asked, taking a seat.

“Yes, today is Harry day. I had planned to fall asleep in the bath, have lunch, then spend the rest of the day doing some random shit,” he replied. “I got the sleep part done, though you did wake me.”

He moved over to his trunk and threw on some boxers and his sweatpants on with his towel still around his waist. He chucked his towel into the washing basket and pulled on a t-shirt.

“I came to apologise,” Tony grimaced, once Harry took a seat on the ground, back against the side of the couch.

“Never done that before have you?” Harry said sarcastically.

“Well, believe it or not, most things that I’m accused of aren’t actually my fault,” Tony said but Harry noticed a bit of petulance in his voice. He gave Tony a hard look, not believing his words in the slightest. “Fine, _a couple _of the things I’m accused of aren’t my fault.”

“Anyway. I came to apologise, what happened yesterday could have been handled better. The things I said came out completely wrong,” Tony sighed.

Harry was surprised at the admission; he didn’t think Tony Stark was one to apologize. “You did nothing wrong. Your word choice was poor, yes. But I’m the one that just walked on into your life like there would be no repercussion.” He shifted, getting into a more comfortable position.

“No, I could have handled the situation better, I’m the adult,” Tony said back.

Harry groaned, his stubborn reluctance to accept apologies came from Tony. It would be a miracle if they could end any convocation together.

“You’re right, you could have handled it way better but then so could have I. If I had thought the situation through a bit more and sent a letter ahead of time, then you would have been able to process the information or even send a letter back.” Harry was starting to get hungry; he hoped his lunch would be here soon.

“That would have been nice, yeah. Anyway, I didn’t mean to make you feel abandoned or unloved, I just…It all came out terribly wrong. I panicked and didn’t filter my words,” he explained.

“It wasn’t abandonment as much as it was homesick,” Harry shrugged. Another knock at the door had him dropping his head onto his legs, which were up against his chest before he jumped up, smiling. “Finally, lunch is here,” Tony snorted.

He bounced to the door and opened it, giving a cheer when he saw his lunch on a tray. He thanked the man that bought it to him then carried it inside.

He got himself some chocolate milk and seasoned wedges. He settled down, adding a small hand full of wedges onto a napkin and handed it to Tony before digging in.

When Tony finished eating, he began to speak again, “Pepper came up with a compromise. I have never looked after anything before and you had said earlier that you could look after yourself. Pepper suggested giving you a room in my house, you can stay as long as you want. Pepper has already begun to set a room up for you, I think she’s hoping you accept,” He rambled a bit.

“Ummmm,” He took a sip of his milk and contemplated it, “School starts in a few weeks so I won’t be staying long so I won’t need a room to myself, a guest room would suffice.” He could get hurt, emotionally, he fully understands the risk in his decision, but he wasn’t going to turn this down, a father! He’d get to spend time with his dad. This gave him three options; one; accept and spend time with Tony two; decline and travel around a bit or three; leave and go to the barrow. It seemed sensible to accept since this was the reason he came here, never mind the bad start, this was his chance at a real family.

“It’s okay, I wasn’t expecting you to accept,” Tony sighed, and Harry snorted.

“For the smarted man alive you’re not very smart. I accepted Mister Smart Man.” Tony straightened and seemed to calm somewhat.

“Oh, then let’s go, the drive is 3 days long, and the sooner we leave the sooner we get there.” Tony stood up and made for the door.

“I have to pack.”

Tony stopped in his place and turned, “Right.”

He put away everything that wasn’t in his trunk and walked over to where Hedwig had curled up and slept. He knelt and pet her. Tony started at not noticing the sleeping owl in the room.

Harry’s contact woke her from her sleep, “I’m sorry to wake you girl but we’re leaving. Tony’s taking us to his house. I would suggest staying here till night, but the cleaners will probably come up once I sign out.”

She gave a small, quiet screech and hopped out of her makeshift bed and towards the window. “I’m sure you’ll know where to find me,” He said.

He was going to have to go through his trunk when he got to Tony’s how because at the moment everything has just been thrown inside and not properly put away.

“Shall we go then?” Harry asked.

“Make sure you don’t need to go to the toilet, the drive will be long, and I don’t intend to make any stops except hotel stops.” They left the room and Harry went up to the receptionist, he paid for his stay and for the food he’d ordered.

“You also pre-ordered dinner for tonight, would you like your money back?” she asked.

“Yes please.”

The drive was in awkward silence, the first hour Tony had tried to make convocation, but Harry struggled to answer most of the questions that Tony asked so the conversation was dropped. After that, the drive was in silence.

That is until an alarm went off.

Harry looked around, trying to locate the sound, but he looked up when Tony snorted.

“That’s your phone, someone’s calling you,” He said.

“Oh, I’ve never gotten a phone call before, it startled me.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Harry?” the person on the other side asked.

“Yeah, and you are?”

“Harry! It’s Hermione. Where are you? Are you okay? You just disappeared. I got your letter a week ago, I’ll admit it took me a while to figure out what the numbers were but when I did, I had to tell Dumbledore. Anyway, I’m staying at the burrow this summer, so he was easy to contact but we had to go out to the muggle word to get a phone so we could ring you-”

“Hermione! Calm down, I’m fine.” Harry interrupted her ramble.

“Where are you?”

“I’m somewhere… I’ll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else.” He said.

There was silence for a moment, but he could swear he heard some mumbling, he just chucked it off as bad connection. She was, after all, thousands of miles away.

“…Alright,” She said, though there was a bit of hesitation.

“Great! I’m in America, making my way over to uhhhh-” He covered his mic with his hand and turned to Tony, who was looking a little amused, “Where are we going?”

“I have a house in Malibu that we’ll be staying at,” Tony said, pressing his foot even harder against the acceleration.

“Right,” He turned back to his phone, “I’m heading to Malibu, Hermione.”

“HARRY JAMES, why in Merlin’s name are you in America?! how did you even get there?” Harry drew his had away from his ear, saving his hearing.

“I just thought a holiday would be a nice change,” He shrugged.

“So, you went to America? Alone?” came her terrifyingly calm voice from the other side.

“Yes?” He winced.

“Is that an answer or a question,”

“An answer. I’m not alone, I got a tour guide and I’m with a group and we all stick together. They’ve practically adopted me!” he tried to sound as convincing as possible, glaring at Tony when he laughed.

“Harry, do you know how much trouble you have caused? A mass-murdering Death Eater has escaped Azkaban and you suddenly disappear only leaving a note. We thought you’d been taken!” Harry winced, his smile disappearing.

A Death Eater had escaped Azkaban, no one had done that before and the first person to do it is a Death Eater, what are the odds of that? He snorted, considering that nearly everyone in that place is Voldemort supporters, then the chances are pretty high.

“The Ministry even put a warning over the muggle news in case they are hiding out in the muggle world,” she said, pulling him from his thought.

“Well, if it’s all over the news then I’m pretty sure someone will see them entering and boarding an international flight over to America,” he said sarcastically. “Hermione, I’m fine, I promise. If anything happens, even a gut feeling, I’ll ring you,” he reassured her. Unless they can apparate all this way then he’d doubted they could get over to him, if they were even after him in the first place.

“Alright. I’m still mad at you for leaving, you better show up in September in one piece,” she demanded.

“Don’t worry, I will. See you then.” When she said bye, he hung up and threw his head back, groaning.

“Trouble in paradise?” Tony laughed and Harry grimaced in disgust, it’s not that he thought Hermione ugly or disgusting but he saw her as a sister and incest in the wizarding was reserved for the purebloods.

“No, it’s kinda complicated to explain but I had it coming I guess,” he shrugged.

“Well we have all night,” Tony said.

Harry sighed, “Well, before coming here I didn’t tell anyone, I just sent my friend a letter with my phone number. I guess my friends had come to pick me up for the holidays or something and I wasn’t there. They freaked out because apparently, some mass murderer escaped from a prison in the area.”

“Oh? What’s their name?” Tony asked, giving Harry a sideways glance.

“I’m not sure, Hermione didn’t tell me,” Harry said.

“JARVIS?” Tony called; Harry gave him a strange look.

“Yes Sir?” a disembodied voice called. Harry jumped a bit but recognised the voice, it was the one from the elevator with Steve.

“look for information regarding an escaped convict in the UK.”

“He’s here too?” Harry asked.

“JARVIS?” Harry nodded, “Where was he before?”

“At your tower, in the elevator,” Harry said.

“Yeah, he uploaded himself to one of the servers at Stark Tower. How do you know he was there? I’ve only allowed him to speak freely in my personal elevator,” Tony asked, playfully glaring suspiciously at Harry.

“Uh, Steve had to get changed so he bought me along.” Harry jumped when he felt his phone vibrate, he looked up at Tony, “What does that one mean?”

Tony outright laughed, “You got a message kiddo. You never had a phone before?” he looked strangely at Harry.

“Yeah, my relatives didn’t have much money,” He lied, the Dursleys had enough money to feed Dudley for years but he couldn’t bloody well say ‘yeah, I go to a magic school and all that magic makes muggle stuff explode sometimes,’ He snorted and pulled out his phone again.

Hermione had messaged him. ‘_Sorry_.’ It read.

His gut sank and he stared at the message with wide eyes, he was quick to reply. ‘_What for?_’ when he didn’t get an answer, he sent another message, ‘_Hermione_?’ and another ‘_Are you there?_’ and another ‘_Please tell me you’re okay’_

When he didn’t get a reply to any of his texts, he put his phone away and bounced his leg.

“Something happen?” Tony asked.

“Hermione messaged me, all it said was sorry, but she hasn’t replied to any of my messages.” He wrung his hands, noticing that pain in his wrist had lessened.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” He said, he stole a glance at Harry and when he noticed how tense the black-haired boy was, he changed the subject. “So, Steve had to get changed? Care to elaborate on that, there are millions of Steve’s in this word,” raising his eyebrows at Harry.

“Oh, um, Steve Rogers, that’s his name. Anyway, we ran into each other and he took it upon himself to escort me everywhere for the day.” Harry had stopped playing with his hands and looked up and outside. They must have been driving for hours already considering it was dark outside. They were in the middle of nowhere from the looks of it. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed they were going fast, he couldn’t wait to ride a broom again.

“That’s Cap for you, always trying to do the right thing, did he pay for your shopping as well?” Tony snorted.

“He definitely tried but I managed to convince him otherwise or pay him back,” Harry smiled.

“Sir, I have results to the search,” The sudden interruption made harry jump again.

“Go ahead JARVIS.”

“On the 28th of July, Sirius Black escaped an unnamed prison. His sentence was for life and his current location is unknown,” JARVIS dutifully reported back.

Harry frowned, the name seemed very familiar, but he couldn’t place it, maybe when he went through his trunk, he would find something.

As it was already late, Tony stopped at the nearest hotel and booked a room for the night. The next morning, after getting breakfast and lunch from a vending machine Harry asked why they left so early…by early Harry meant at 6 in the morning.

“The sooner we leave the sooner we get there,” was Tony’s response. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can before you leave for school,” Tony added as an afterthought.

As soon as Harry got into the car that morning he fell back to sleep, head lolling to the side.

It was lunchtime when Harry woke up again. Tony handed him a bag of chips and a granola bar to eat. When Harry asked for a quick stop so he could get a book to read Tony had grumbled, muttering about something he’d said before they left the day before.

The black-haired boy was quick to grab this year’s potions text, a muggle notebook, and a pen. It was good to read it before class so if Snape decided to pick on him then he’d already know the answer. He got into the back seat so he could curl up on his side and read the book. He knew it was unsafe, but every aspect of his life nowadays was unsafe, take going to an ancient magic school with a giant snake living under it for example.

He spent the rest of the day reading his book and taking notes. Tony asked questions from time to time and when he directed his quarries to the book, he held then Harry had to mugglelize his answers.

“What book is that?” Tony asked, peering into the rear-view mirror to get a look at Harry.

“Plants and their pretty practical properties.” Harry congratulated himself for coming up with that on the spot.

“Oh? And what are you reading about?”

He was reading about the Shrinking Potion; he quickly skimmed the page looking for an ingredient that wasn’t strictly magical. “Wormwood. Did you know it helped with digestion problems?”

He thanked Aunt Petunia for that knowledge. When Dudley started having stomach problems as a kid she had gone to every doctor, they all told her Dudley needed to lose weight but she just ignored them and went to a herbal center instead, looking for a ‘natural cure’.

Harry had snorted when she said that, the most natural cure Dudley could get was a diet and exercise.

Tony hummed, “No, it didn’t. The next time you eat too much sugar and get sick I’ll invest in some and shove it down your throat to save you the trouble of vomiting your guts out.”

Harry laughed, “The next time I eat too much sugar and get sick I’ll go to your room and vomit all over your bed.”

“Not the bed!” Tony cried out dramatically and Harry continued to laugh.

After that, they fell into silence again. They stopped off for dinner and as they drove towards a hotel for the night Harry fell asleep in the back seat. He knew Tony hadn’t stopped for the night because when Harry woke again he was still in the car.

“You didn’t stop last night?” His voice was groggy from the sleep and his eyesight was blurring, his glasses must have fallen off last night.

“Nah, I can stay up for days on end this was nothing. We’ll be there before dinner tonight,” Tony said.

“If you’re sure your okay,” Harry said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry, Harry, I’m okay.” Harry nodded at that and went back to his book. His muscles were getting a little sore from being cramped up in the car for so long but he only had to endure it for a little longer, Tony had said they would be there before dinner time.

\----

And they were. They had stopped for a few minutes to get something to eat at a cafe at lunchtime then hit the road again. Harry had taken a nap for an hour and when he woke up Tony was calling him, he looked out the window and saw they were pulling up to a large, white house on the edge of a cliff.

Pepper was at the door to greet them. The house was very large, but it was nice. He was shown around, his favourite room being the kitchen. There was so much space and so many ingredients, he smiled at the possibilities of disserts he could make.

“And this is your room!” Pepper said, opening the door and spreading her arms wide. His eyes widened; the room was huge, far bigger than anywhere he’d ever slept before. his bed a double with grey sheets, the carpet a white and a large window across the far side. He even had a desk and a walk-in closet. The layout was similar to the one at Stark Tower, the difference being the window and the shelves next to his desk.

Tony groaned, “Do you not like it. We can change it up a bit, paint the walls, get new carpet or we can even move you if you’d like.”

Harry spun around, “No! No, I love it, I’ve just never had a room this big before.” He turned back around and pulled his trunk into his room, setting it at the end of his bed.

“Well, we can still get it painted, to personalise your room,” Pepper piped up, smiling brightly at him.

“You don’t need to do that. I’m not staying long, school starts soon.” He’d be leaving for Hogwarts before he knew it, making his dad and Pepper go through all that work just for him to leave soon after.

“Even so, you can always visit. You are welcome to visit whenever you want,” Pepper said.

“Fine,” He grumbled, he knew he wasn’t going to win, he’d only met with Pepper twice, but he knew she wasn’t the type of person to just back down. He didn’t want red, contrary to popular belief he didn’t actually like the colour, he didn’t hate it either, but it wasn’t a colour he’d paint his room with. “How’s green and gold?” for Gryffindor and Slytherin.

“Perfect, I’ll go and call the painters. After that, I have to get back to work, have fun, Harry.” With that Pepper walked back the way they’d come leaving him with his dad.

“So,” Tony started.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” Harry nodded to him, trying to convey how much he was thankful. Despite their rough start he really wanted to try and connect with his dad, he didn’t care if he was a murderer or an alien, he was his family, something he’d always wanted and now had.

Tony smiled at him, “No problem, kiddo. Um, about dinner, I can order something if you’re hungry.”

“No thanks, I’m not hungry, thanks for offering though.” Harry smiled and Tony nodded before he closed Harry’s door and left.

Harry sighed and closed his eyes, by Merlin today did not go as planned. He knelt to his trunk and opened it, quickly emptying it. He carried all of his clothes to his wardrobe and hung everything up. He kept his Hogwarts robes by the trunk, planning of putting them back inside.

Next was his books, they were all magical so he couldn’t put them in his bookshelf unless they suddenly became unreadable. He tilted his head and went to his unread book on basic spells that he’d picked up at Diagon. He checked the content page and found a section on disguising and hiding things. A quick flick to the page and a speedy skim of the pages and he found the perfect charm. It didn’t change much of the book but it compelled whoever was looking at it to not be interested in it, and as a precaution, he also found another spell that made the book completely blank unless read by his eyes, that way anyone who got past the first spell just thought he had a shit ton of diaries. It took a few tries before he got the spell down and he started to stack his books.

As he was stacking the books, he found his mothers’ old diary. He had completely forgotten about it! He bit his lip and put it to the side to read later.

He grabbed the bag full of souvenirs he’d gotten and chucked them on his desk, on top of his parents’ photo album, he kept them out to remind him to get them sent. He put his Hogwarts uniform back into his trunk along with a few other knickknacks including his own photo album.

When he had done that the threw himself into bed and opened his mother’s diary.

_25-12-1993_

_Hello Diary, it is Christmas and for Christmas Severus got me this diary. I am really happy, and I really like it. I got him a charm I had seen at Hogsmeade, it was a tiny, metal charm that looked like a potions bottle. I thought Severus would like it because he likes potions. When I gave it to him, he was very happy._

_Potter and Black tried to prank him again today, but I know what was going to happen, so I warned Severus. Sometimes James can be a bully. Potter gave me a new quill, I am using it now to write in this diary, it is really fluffy and white, I think it is very cute. Black gave me a small bag of simple pranks and Lupin gave me a new book on the history of the magical world and Pettigrew got me chocolates. I gave Potter a planner, maybe he can make it to class on time now. I got Lupin some knitted gloves, he didn’t have any, and winter is cold here. I got Pettigrew a small bag of assorted goods from Honeydukes._

_Today was really good._

_Petunia didn’t send me anything, she hasn’t been replying to my letters. I think she is mad at me, but I don’t know why._

_Goodbye for now!_

He scrunched his nose at the thought of his mum being friends with Snape. He didn’t know if his mum had still been friends with Snape when she died if she had it might explain why Snape hates him so much. He gagged; his mum had been friends with Snape and in many situations, friends and become lovers. Dear Merlin, one right thing said and mum could have married him instead of James. He imagined himself with Snape’s facial features; long oily black hair, a long nose, sickly skin, and green eyes. He thanked every deity out there that wasn’t what happened.

When he thought about it, it was so strange to read his mums’ diary. It was hard to explain but when reading it felt like he was listening to her retell her day like she was there in person. He continued to read her diary until it reached 1 AM. He curled up in his bed and put the diary down on the bedside.

That night he went to sleep and dreamed of his mum.

\----

Meanwhile, in another room, JARVIS spoke to Tony, “He’s finally gone to sleep, sir.”

“JARVIS, how do you look after a kid. Just, what do I do to get him to like me?” Tony asked, taking a sip of whiskey.

“A study in 2005 show’s that kids who have been adopted show more trust towards adults when a routine is in place. While a study in 2006 show’s that giving your child space, patience, being there for them, and having fun can help them to trust you,” JARVIS said.

Tony breathed, forcing himself to relax. Harry seemed like a good kid; he should be easy to keep alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much trouble writing Tony, I rewrote the apology scene so many times and this outcome was the best I could come up with.
> 
> In case you are wondering about the time difference.  
Everything in Harry Potter has been moved forward 20 years:  
Lily and James Potter were born in 1960, now they were born in 1980.  
They went to Hogwarts in 1971, now they went in 1991.  
Harry was born in 1980, now he was born in 2000.  
Harry went to Hogwarts in 1991, now he went in 2011.


	4. Shoes with wheels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've noticed that I haven't put this anywhere but this is going to be following Iron Man 3, just letting you know.

The next morning Tony did something that would most definitely not gain Harry’s favour.

The hallways were dark, the only sound that could be heard was the early chirps of raising birds.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, sir?” A British voice asked.

“Duh, this will be awesome, I can’t wait to see his face,” Tony cackled, hands rubbing together as he crouched low.

“Did you just cackle, sir?”

“Of course, when you do something evil it is only natural to cackle, JARVIS.”

As Tony drew closer to his son’s metal bedroom door it opened revealing a dark room, windows tinted to block out the light and his sons sleeping figure, turned on its side.

With quiet footsteps he approached the bed, he held his breath before he released it with a loud yell, jumping on top of Harry. The poor boy jerked awake, he rolled over the body on top of him until he sat over them. His eyes were still closed from sleep but they opened when he heard laughter. Bottle-green eyes squinting at the culprit, with one hand he reached over to the bedside table and perched his glasses on his nose. He realised a groan when he saw it was Tony.

“What the hell?” His voice was thick and groggy from sleep, resulting in a few voice cracks. Tony just continued to laugh.

“I told sir it would be a bad idea to wake you in such a way,” JARVIS said on Tony’s behalf.

“Wake me? Tony, it’s like 6 in the morning.” His heart was racing and his breath came out in small puffs from the adrenalin that coursed through his body. That was a close call, he could still feel his magic buzzing under his skin, ready to take out any threat. He took a deep breath and held it, trying to get his magic to calm down, telling it there was no threat.

“It’s 7 actually. I came down to tell you I made breakfast.” Harry had to withhold his smile at the pride and nervousness in his dads’ voice. He’d obviously done that for Harry, Tony didn’t seem like the kitchen type of guy.

“Well then, let us go see what poisonous concoction you have come up with,” He said and got out of bed, he ignored the indignant shout that followed him.

He entered the kitchen/dining room/lounge and saw a platter of food sitting on the table. “I tried to make pancakes but I’ve never made them before so they didn’t turn out great,” Tony said from beside him.

He took a plate and began to serve his breakfast “I’m sure they are good, Tony,” Harry smiled at him. Spreading on some maple syrup and added cut up strawberries on top. He and Tony took a bite at the same time, he tried to keep in the grimace at the strong burnt and salty taste. Tony spat them out but he just swallowed them, closing his throat to keep them down.

“I knew they would be terrible,” Tony groaned thumping his head into his hands.

“They aren’t so bad, a bit over salted and burnt but making pancakes perfectly are nearly impossible.” He took another bite, once again fighting a grimace. Tony looked up at him and watched him eat.

“You don’t have to keep eating them, I can order something.” Tony smiled at his son; he could tell Harry was eating them to make him feel better.

Harry sighed and put his knife and fork down sighing, “Well, now we know that the poisonous concoction is pancakes.” He didn’t want to order out, he wanted to keep eating at the table with his dad like the Dursley’s always did.

Tony laughed, picking up a strawberry and eating it.

“I can make breakfast, I’ve been doing it for years so I don’t mind,” Harry said taking a strawberry as well.

Tony briefly narrowed his eyes at the confession, the kid was only 13, to have been making breakfast for years he would have started way before other kids, “Do you enjoy cooking?” He asked. He had some suspicions, but he wasn’t going to demand answers from the kid. He had read up a little on the studies JARVIS had brought up last night, the article said that if the child should be hiding anything then you should wait and let them tell you, no matter what.

“I don’t enjoy cooking as much as I do baking but they are both fun. I like making all sorts of desserts, maybe I could make some English puddings sometime,” Harry suggested.

“Alright, you can make breakfast I like anything with berries in it: blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. You name it.”

Harry smiled and got up; he went to the kitchen to see what tony had. The fruit was already out so he was going to make some pancakes but he wanted to do something else as well but didn’t know what.

The boy started to make the pancake batter, he heated up a pan and by then he figured he wanted to make a traditional English breakfast, he decided to make that tomorrow as they would no doubt be full of pancakes. He looked over to see Tony eating a few blueberries while scrolling through his phone, he stopped every now and again to type something.

Only when the pancake was bubbling did he flip it, the bottom was a light golden, perfect.

He put them all onto a plate and carried it over to the dining table. When he set it down Tony looked up, “Now those look like pancakes.” Harry snorted.

* * *

“We need to do some furniture shopping,” A sudden voice yelled.

Harry jumped and looked away from the TV and towards Tony, “Why?” He asked slowly, hesitantly.

“The Painters are coming to paint your room right now and you need some furniture to fit the aesthetic.” He punctuated the last word with a flourish of his hands.

“But furniture is expensive-“

“And I have an unnecessary amount of money. Plus, if you are so hesitant, think of this as me making up for 13 years of uncelebrated birthdays.”

Harry guessed he could allow his dad that. He groaned and stood up, “Just let me get ready.”

Tony stopped him by holding up his hand and Harry stared at it with a tilted head, “We can do it online. JARVIS, are you ready for some hardcore shopping?” Tony jumped onto the couch and watched as the TV changed from the show Harry was watching to google.

Harry just sighed; he was slowly getting use to the way muggles did things. Online shopping seemed to be similar to owl orders, judging from the fact that he and Tony weren’t leaving the house.

“Alright, first we will look for beds and bedsheets. If your room is going to be a green and gold theme, then we need something to match. A dark oak would fit, it’ll give the room a more dark, medieval vibe.” Tony excitedly rubbed his hands and asked for JARVIS to look for dark oak bedframes.

“I didn’t take you for the shopping kinda guy,” Harry stated and sat down next to his dad.

“Oh, I’m not, online shopping is only fun because I get to use money and I’ll have something to look forward too while it ships,” Tony shrugged, he pointed to a bed he saw and looked towards Harry.

“I don’t know about a dark Medieval vibe but I like the dark oak. Reminds me of home.” The beds in the Gryffindor dorms were made of some kind of oak and he liked the feel of it, warm and welcoming. It was also the first bed he had ever had, apart from the one in Dudley’s second bedroom because it can hardly be called a bed.

“Well, we can even it out by adding some white then, like a rug!”

Harry pointed out a bedframe he liked; it was simple. The headboard was tall and had panels of a darker wood than the rest of the bed, the sides that held the mattress were plain strips of wood with short stubby legs.

During the time of their bedframe expedition, they didn’t notice Pepper leading a team of painters down the hall and into Harry’s room.

“What else do we need to look for?” Harry looked at tony for an answer, it was his money, after all, the thought made him grimace, he didn’t really want his dad to be buying him all this stuff but he had the right, he was his dad after all and he didn’t want to start any fights.

“Well, you need a rug, as well as a desk and bookshelves to match your bed. I think a new bookcase would be great too, get one that is a little more opened sided to give the room more space. Oh! And a chair for your desk.” Tony babbled about the thing he could get Harry, he looked excited at the prospect of buying it all. While Harry just sighed.

They found Harry a desk, it was dark oak to match the bedframe and a soft white swirly chair to go with it. He didn’t enjoy shopping as much as Tony, well, that wasn’t entirely true; The shopping in London was fun because you got to walk around and see things in stores you have never seen before but this online shopping was very boring and tiring.

Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes, “Feels like we’ve been doing this for hours.”

“It has been 3 hours, young sir,” JARVIS replied making Harry jump at the unexpected answer. He wondered how long it takes to paint a room. He remembers painting pictures in year one and two and those took a while to dry, with how big his room is wouldn’t it take a few days to dry?

“Hmm, JARVIS?” He asked, looking around. It was uncomfortable to talk to someone you couldn’t see…kinda like Riddles’ diary. “How long does it take to paint a room and for the paint to dry?”

“It can take between 45 minutes to 1 hour to paint the walls and roof of a room after that the paint has to dry, which takes about 4 hours depending on the paint type so that a second coat can be applied. After the second coat of paint is dry, it is recommended that the room is aired out for 24 hours,” JARVIS reported.

Harry mentally tallied up how long it would be until his room was usable again and groaned about 30 hours. He’d probably have to sleep on the couch for the night.

Tony rubbed his chin, “We didn’t think that one through.” Harry laughed at that, he curled around his stomach and laughed hard.

Tony looked down fondly at Harry. He was glad that he was able to make Harry smile, he was proud of himself that Harry was having fun. “With the paint business aside, we need a rug. I’ve seen some really fluffy ones before.” JARVIS bought up a screen full of rugs. Harry lifted his glasses and wiped the tears from his eyes so he could see the rugs, he saw one that he couldn’t wait to feel. It was really fluffy and grey.

“JARVIS, please have all of the items shipped here.” Tony stood up but paused suddenly when his stomach rumbled, “Also, order some pizza. I’ll take my usual, what about you, Harry?” He turned to look at Harry.

“Surprise me.” He could sense Tony would be outraged if he said he’s never had pizza before. Tony grinned.

“Alright, and Harry will have a pepperoni with stuffed crust and extra BBQ sauce.”

“Of course, sir. The furniture is estimated to arrive in three days. The pizza will be here in 40 minutes,” The British AI said.

“Awesome, that gives us time to get rid of the furniture in your room. What do you think we should do with it?” Tony asked Harry.

Well, they could put it in storage, destroy it, or sell it. Harry liked the last idea because it would get Tony some of the money he’d spent back, “Sell it,” Harry said but smiled when an idea came, “Say that it’s yours and see how high the bids can get.”

Tony smirked, “Great idea. There’s nothing like a bit of holiday madness.”

Harry took a second to think about the past few days and finally realised where he was and what it meant. He was in Malibu, MACUSA and Celant Ally is in Manhattan. That means he wouldn’t be able to get there unless he can teleport, he didn’t know if magicals could do that so that option was out. Though he had heard about something called a portkey from Hermione, it’s not quite an instantaneous teleportation but more of a planned, timed teleportation. Something like that would be handy to have, it could take him to MACUSA or Celant Ally whenever he needed. He decided to look through the booklet he got when was allowed in his room again.

When the pizza came they both sat at the table and ate. After his first bite Harry decided he rather liked pizza, it was cheesy and a little spicy. He looked over to his dad, he knew nothing about him, sure he knows what his dad does and what he’s done but he doesn’t know anything about his personal life, like his favourite colour.

Harry cleared his throat after taking another bite, Tony looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, “I just realised I don’t know much about you.”

“Ah, that is a problem, isn’t it? Anyone who doesn’t know the amazing Tony Stark is obviously being deprived,” Tony nodded his head seriously, mournfully closing his eyes

Harry just laughed and shook his head, “Very true, my life changed completely knowing that someone like you exists. I can sleep easy with the knowledge that Iron Man will save the day,” Harry played along, changing his voice to sound like Malfoy.

Tony’s eyes lit up, “I do feel sorry for those that do not know of my existence, their sleepless nights must be catching up to them. If only they knew,” He sighed, looking terribly dejected.

Harry laughed, “In all seriousness though, I know nothing about you, apart from what the media has said.” He shrugged took another bite of pizza, savouring the taste.

“Then how about a good old game of 20 questions,” Tony said.

Harry had no idea what the games was the name sounded pretty self-explanatory so he’d just roll with that. “You first,” he said.

“Alright, the first question is nice and easy. What is your favourite colour?” Tony rubbed his hands together leaning forward.

Harry hummed around his pizza, “Green is my favourite colour overall but I also have an appreciation for red.” Tony laughed.

“My turn. What’s your favourite colour?” Harry asked, turning Tony’s question back on him.

“Turning my own question against me, how rude but it’s red,” Tony announced.

Harry smiled; Gryffindor was the red house. Maybe he could get Tony and himself a Gryffindor hoody and not tell Tony what it was.

“What’s your least favourite school subject?” Harry groaned, how was he to answer that? Substitute magical classes for muggle ones? He’d heard about science while he was still in primary school, though chemistry seemed closer to potions than biology.

“Chemistry and Biology.” Better go with both

Tony gasped in mock outrage, he placed his hand over his heart and slightly over the arc reactor. He paused for a second when he realised that Harry hadn’t really put any notice into it. “The sciences! You offend the science gods with your blasphemies words.”

Harry laughed; he was starting to like his dad. He’d laughed and smiled more here in the last day than he had ever done at the Dursleys.

Tony leaned over the table and whispered to Harry, “Though I can’t blame you, Biology and Chemistry are the worst sciences out there. Prefer Physics and Engineering myself,” Tony puffed out his chest.

Harry smiled and thought of another question, “Hmm, I can’t think of anything,” Harry pouted, though he would never admit it, and looked at Tony for help.

“JARVIS? Please generate 20 random questions for each of us and send them to our phones. Harry, JARVIS will need to know your phone number,” Tony said and pulled out his phone. Harry did the same and gave his number to JARVIS. Tony also added it to his contacts.

“20 random questions have been added to your notebook, sirs,” JARVIS said.

Harry looked down at his phone and blanched at some of the questions, his head snapped up when Tony laughed out loud. “These questions are brilliant JARVIS. Alright, kid, the deal is we have to ask every question as well as answer every question truthfully.”

Harry sighed but nodded. Some were very… personal, in the dirty kind of way. He did want to know _that_ much about his dad.

“You first, Harry,” Tony said gleefully and put his phone down to stare directly into his eyes.

Harry cleared his throat and read the first question, “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

Tony stopped for a second and tilted his head, he then nodded, “Yes, because there is a filling between two pieces of bread.” Tony propped his head up this his hand, “Off to a great start.” Harry snorted, just wait till he got to the other questions.

“Would you rather lose an arm or a leg? Good question,” Tony said.

Harry thought about it for a second before he came to a conclusion. “A leg. I can get you to make me a new one and it won’t be as obvious because my pants will cover it.”

“Good, you have faith in me,” Tony said with a wizened tone to his voice.

Harry made a sound in the back of his throat, “I don’t know about that, faith is a bit of a stretch.”

Harry laughed at the offended sound Tony made and turned back to his questions, “Are you still a virgin?” He said still chuckling. It was good to use those unwanted questions spaced out so he wasn’t asking them all at the end.

“Harry, I’m sorry to say that I am still a virgin and you are adopted,” Tony shook his head, to hide his smile.

“I knew it! I’m too smart and pretty to be your son,” He said with a flourish of his short hair. Tony laughed as well.

“One day, Harry, you will see how handsome I really am.” He pouted.

Tony straightened his back and cleared his throat, “My question for you is: Have you ever had a crush on someone?” He stared intently at his son.

Harry, on the other hand, had started to blush. He had. There was Ginny though that was short-lived when he realised she looked like his mum and she was his best friends little sister. Then there was also Elion, he seemed like a nice guy and he looked good but he didn’t know him enough to develop an actual crush, just a…liking.

“Once, though it didn’t last long. I had realised later that she looked like my mum, there’s also the fact that she’s my best friends’ sister.” He grimaced; Ginny was nice. She was sporty, loud, brave, and kind, the perfect person but he just couldn’t bring himself to think of her as anything other than a friend.

Tony nodded, “Yes, you did the correct thing. I will not allow you to date anyone that looks like your mother. I will also not allow you to break the Bro Code,” Tony puffed his chest, Harry could tell he was just bantering but he was also serious about some of it.

“The Bro Code?” He’d never heard of his before, not even from the Muggleborns at Hogwarts.

“Aye, Rule number 4: If the girl you like falls into any one of these criteria then she is off limits forever 1) she is a bros ex-girlfriend 2) Your bro already told you he likes her 3) She is your bros’ sister.” Tony had gotten bored one day and ended up on the weird side of Google and found an entire list of rules which he found was called ‘The Bro Code”

“All right, I’ll remember that. My turn, what is your favourite part about being an adult?”

“Something called Adult money, I earn it, I spend it however I like. I’m pretty sure I spent the first few years of my adulthood buying all sorts of random shit. I’d heard of shoes with wheels called Heelys and bought like 5 different pairs and wore them everywhere,” Tony said.

Harry let out an excited breath, “Shoes with wheels?”

“Yeah, you can take a running start and just glide everywhere,” Tony said nodding his head, confirming with himself that he was correct.

“I need some. JARVIS! Where do I buy Heelys from?” He looked up at the ceiling, once again uncomfortable with the lack of figure to look at.

“There is an official Heelys website that you can order some from, young sir,” the AI said.

“Quick break on the game, dad,” Harry said in a hurry and jogged over to the couch, abandoning is phone, pizza and dad. “JARVIS, please pull up the Heelys website.” He bounced in his seat leaning forward.

It took a second for Tony to register that Harry had called him dad, he liked the sound of that, kinda made him warm inside. Harry didn’t seem to notice the slip-up. Tony observed Harry and felt like chuckling. When Harry had shown up he had freaked out and massively fucked up, he thought this would be hard but it really wasn’t, were all kids this easy to look after? All you had to do was feed them and keep them entertained.

“Boys shoes please JARVIS,” Harry roamed his eyes over all the different designs, he saw a red pair which he could get for Gryffindor pride but then he didn’t really have anything to go with the shoes so he decided on finding something more colour natural.

After some searching, he saw some that he absolutely had to have. They were a dark shade of grey and lit up along the base. “Those JARVIS, please, I’m a size 6, if I got the size conversions correct.”

“I had added a size 6 of the premium 1 lo grey Heelys to your basket. Would you like to pay for them?” JARVIS asked Harry.

“Yes,” He said and nodded vigorously. He had some cash in his room so he’d just give that to Tony. “That’s okay, right? I have cash in my room I plan on paying you back with.” He turned to look at Tony who was starring at him with amusement alight in his eyes.

“I don’t mind buying them for you,” he offered, not bothering with hiding his smirk.

“No can do, I’m buying them. Think of this as my first adult purchase,” Harry shook his head and declined Tony’s offer.

The man threw his head back and laughed, “Alright, your first adult purchase it is.”

“Young sir, I had ordered the shoes and the estimated time of arrival is in 5 days,” JARVIS reported to Harry, he thanked the AI and returned to the table.

“Sorry about that. The wheels on shoes got me very excited.” He also couldn’t wait till he got back to Hogwarts rocking them, he imagined himself just gliding through the school, his robes hiding all evidence of the shoes.

Tony just shook his head, “Guess it’s my turn now.” He cleared his throat to get rid of his amusement and turned his phone back on. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

Harry nodded, he did live with them after all, “Of course.”

“Why? I don’t personally believe in them but that’s because I haven’t seen them nor do I have the proof that they existed. I’m just curious why you think they’re real,” Tony asked him, the boy understood where he was coming from. When Hagrid came knocking at his door telling him magic was real, he needed proof too.

Though he couldn’t tell Tony it was because he passed them every day getting to class. He shrugged his shoulders, “I guess I just do.”

Tony hummed and rolled back on his chair until he was balancing on the back two legs. He fell forward again and rubbed his hands, “Your next.”

“What was growing up like for you?” He read from his phone and looked up at Tony.

He hummed and closed his eyes. “It wasn’t terrible. Though with my fathers’ success, my parents expected me to follow in his footsteps, so did I, it was how I was raised. Thankfully I enjoy the stuff my father did so it wasn’t much of a burden.” He had it rough growing up though it wasn’t the worst situation there was. He had thrown himself into alcohol and gambling once he was old enough, especially after his parents’ deaths. He had gotten out of those habits a few years ago, he still indulged every now and again but it wasn’t as much as a problem as it was in his earlier years.

“I’m sorry.” His sons’ voice broke him out of his thoughts. Tony looked up and saw Harry looking at him, he just smiled at the boy.

“A few more questions I think then we’ll see how the painters are going.” Harry nodded in agreement at his suggestion.

Harry took a gulp of water.

“Alright, Harry. Have you ever been attracted to a man?” Tony asked him.

Harry spat out his water in a spray, it landed all over his lap and he stared wide-eyed at Tony. A blush made its way up to his neck and he stuttered out an answer. “N-no, What? I-I haven’t, never, I-” He was cut off by Tony’s laughing. Harry looked down at his hands in his lap.

“Come on kiddo, spill the tea, as they say.”

The boy’s black hair was turning red at the fierce blush across his face and neck.

Tony just sighed, resigned. “Fine, don’t spill anything, spoilsport. Your turn.” The boy’s reaction answered his question.

Harry whined and turned back to his phone, hoping to find an interesting enough question to deter Tony from any future questioning. “D-” his voice cracked so he took a second to clear his throat then continued, “Do you sleep with a soft toy?” he had always wanted a soft toy.

“Now see here, one might view sleeping with a stuffed dog unmanly and not sexy at all but some of us need our comfort,” He sniffed and turned his head, Harry chuckled. He had actually gotten a stuffed dog after the New York incident, he always hid it when someone was over though.

“Agreed, a stuffed animal is a mans toy.”

Tony stood up and stretched, “let’s see how that room is coming along.”

* * *

A quick trip down to his room provided that the room was nearly done and the second coat was drying. The painting crew were currently packing up and told Tony that it would need to air out for the rest of the day before Harry could spend long periods inside. Before they all left they asked for an autograph, which they got.

Harry dashed inside and grabbed enough money to pay Tony back and the MASUCA booklet. He gave Tony the money and flicked through the booklet.

There were different types of Portkey, international, single-use, and reusable. Turns out anyone can request a Portkey as long as you have a reason and stick to a signed contract. All he had to do was owl MACUSA for a form and fill it out, and to do that he needed Hedwig.

Tony had gone down to his lab to do some tinkering and pepper was at a meeting with Merlin knows who. He lay on the couch, booklet tucked into his pocket and closed his eyes, sleep taking hold.

When he woke, he saw it had only been about an hour. He looked out the window and saw Hedwig sitting outside, demanding to be let inside. Once he let Hedwig inside he cuddled and praised her, making her preen.

“I have a task for you but you deserve the rest so I’ll ask in a few days,” the boy told her. She hooted back and snuggled into Harry who petted her more. Just before she fell asleep, she flew to a dark corner of the house and curled up.

* * *

The days continued similarly as his first. Tony would wake Harry up at varying times in a variety of ways and Harry would make breakfast.

On the fourth day, Harry was staring at his room with tears in his eyes. This was his room, his own personalised room. He had installed his new furniture and sold the other. It looked amazing, he loved it so much.

His walls were a soft green, the ceiling was white to match the carpet and gold ran along the baseboard.

He loved it here, it was so stress-free. No famous Harry Potter. No scar. No tales of Voldemort. No death-defying situations. It was peaceful.

He loved his dad too; he was funny and cared about him. Harry had accidentally cut his finger cooked that morning and Tony had come running as soon as he had yelped, he held Harry’s hand as he put on a plaster and hovered over Harry’s shoulder for the rest of the time in the kitchen.

He had also sent Hedwig out that morning requesting a form for a Portkey. The snowy owl had happily taken the paper.

He continued further into his room and curled up on his bed with a happy sigh, cocooning himself in a fluffy blanket and thought of Hogwarts. He didn’t really want to go back. Sure, he’d miss his friends, dormmate, and Hogwarts itself but he liked it here more. He didn’t see a point in going back. He could message/owl his friends as well as visit them on the weekends or something. Though his education was a problem, he didn’t want to be a dropout.

If Hogwarts existed then so did other magical schools right? There had to be more than one magical school in the entire world, maybe he could go there that way his dad was still close by. He groaned and rested his arms on his forehead, but then his dad would wonder where he was going for months at a time, if he was going to go to an American magical school then he had to tell his dad about magic and that didn’t seem like a good idea. After the New York incident he had read about Loki with his magic sceptre, he didn’t think Tony would handle the news of his son being a wizard to well, that and he was a man of science. He didn’t even believe in ghosts.

Maybe he could do some kind of home-school regimen, did they do that in the magical world? Maybe. It could work if he self-studied and had someone to talk to and owl for help whenever he needed. He liked the sound of that, that way he didn’t have to lie too much to Tony and still get and education.

Maybe once he got his portkey situation sorted out he could find out what to do… or he could find out now and act later.

He grabbed his booklet out of his bedside drawer and went to the section on magical education or ME for short.

For a second he looked at his still wrapped up wrist, flexing it and moving it around. When he didn’t feel any pain he decided to unwrap it and leave it that way.

Turning back to the booklet, he read up a bit and found that there was indeed a magical school in America called ‘Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ he saw that there were also home school options that were discussable depending on the situation. If he really was going to do this then he was going to need a form to unregister himself from Hogwarts.

Once he got that portkey, which will hopefully be soon since school starts in 2 weeks, he can talk to someone in the DME about his schooling, maybe get advise on what to do as well.

* * *

What woke Harry the next morning was a violent scream, he shot out of bed, making sure his wand was still in his sleeve and ran to where he heard the sound come from. As he entered the living space he saw his dad clutching his heart and Hedwig sitting on the counter eating a piece of bacon.

His dad turned to look at him, “I wanted to try cooking again but your bird stole the food and… startled me.” He pointed an accusing finger at Hedwig, who tried to bite it off.

“You mean Iron Man, Saviour of New York City, screamed like a girl at 8 in the morning because my bird ‘startled’ you?” He curled one arm around his waist and rested the other on top so he could hold his head in his hands.

“I did not scream like a girl!” He shouted indignantly but Harry just gave him a stare that made him shut up and pout like a child. “breakfasts ready?”

Harry just huffed and sat at the dining table and tucked in. He was expecting something not so tasty but was shocked when the food was actually edible. “Are you sure you made this?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you the past few days cook and gave it a shot,” he shrugged his shoulders, looking surprised himself when he took a bite.

Harry yawned and stretched his arms when he finished his breakfast. Turning to look for Hedwig he assumed she went to his room since he couldn’t see her. Just as he stood up to go and check on her, JARVIS notified them that someone was at the door.

“I’ve got it,” Harry called and walked over to the door. When he opened it he glared at the bright sunlight. “Good morning, is there anything I can do for you?” He asked politely. Aunt Petunia would have his hide if he was rude when answering the door.

“Yes, got a parcel for-” Harry looked at the box the man was holding and his eyes lit up. “Heelys,” He squeaked and looked up at the man, “do I have to sign anything?”

The man just shook his head and handed them over. “Good day,” Harry said and closed the door, he ran inside and grabbed a knife to open the box. He pulled the side tabs open and pulled out a shoebox. He made quick work of opening it and held out his new shoes, gazing at them with love.

“Someone in this room is in love with an inanimate object and it’s not me,” Tony said from behind him, he turned to glare at Tony before he sat down and put them on. They were a perfect fit.

There was a button at the side of them to turn the lights on. He made a dash down the hallway and turned the lights on when he reached the end. He then started to run balancing on his heel.

Tony watched as Harry zoomed past him, heading for the wall, “Wall incoming,” he shouted. He laughed when he heard Harry scream.

With his seeker reflexes, he was able to direct his magic at the wall, the adrenalin and panic making it easier for him to channel his magic, he wanted the wall to not hurt him on impact. He wasn’t thinking much when he was doing this as he was too panicked to think of anything else.

When he saw no physical change in the wall he was both relieved and scared. This was going to hurt.

Upon impacting the wall Harry bounced off and fell to the floor, groaning, he realised that he wasn’t in any pain. He turned his head to look at his dad who was laughing with his eyes squeezed shut. Merlin, he’d nearly exposed himself.

He pulled himself up and smiled at his shoes, “Okay, so I need to practice.”

Tony nodded at him, lips still turned up into a smiled. Harry took a small run and glided back down the hall, slowly this time, to his room. Hedwig was sitting on his bed and when he entered she stuck her foot out to him. The green eyes roamed the pages he had to fill out and took a seat to begin the torturous task.

* * *

Tony went down to his workshop when JARVIS told him Harry had gone back to his room. He had been tinkering with random things; pulling them apart and seeing what he could make from the scraps.

Pepper hadn’t shown much in the last few days, she would pop in and say ‘hi’ before leaving again to attending a meeting. He had been doing good with Harry, he had first been worried about messing up (again) and needing Pepper to help him but so far he hadn’t needed to called Pepper for help. He felt proud of himself at that fact, he had gone from not even looking after himself to looking after an alive human child in just under a week.

It was something he was sure to add to his list of accomplishments. He still didn’t know a lot about Harry yet. Their game of 20 questions had been good for basic information and getting to know his personality a bit more but that was it. He wanted to know about Harry’s past, how he was raised because he had a suspicion that he didn’t want to be true but most of the evidence pointed in that direction.

First, his 13-year-old son had travelled all the way from London, alone, just to meet him, the kid had even expected to be turned down.

He was also very small for his age, as a boy of 13, Harry should be taller than he was unless his genes said different but even Tony had been taller than Harry at his age and Lily had been an average height when he met her.

Harry didn’t even know how to use his phone, he would take a guess that the family was poor and it was a new concept to him but he had flown from London, the plane tickets couldn’t have been cheap so he through the idea out the window.

Then there was the fact that Harry could cook. ‘I’ve been doing it for years’ he had said, there was a chance that he had discovered at a young age that he enjoyed cooking or he could have been forced to cook when he was younger. Tony was stumped at that one.

He had considered confronting Harry about his conclusions but had decided against it, he just needed to be patient and wait until Harry told him. If he tried to trick or force it out of his son he could completely ruin any future relationship with him. Admittedly, if this was anyone other than his son he would have done what he had previously mentioned.

* * *

Type of portkey (please circle one): International, single-use, reusable

Reason for portkey: I don’t know how to apparate yet and I am a few days away from MACUSA and Celant Ally. Because of this, I need a way to get to Celant Ally for shopping and MACUSA in case of business.

He had spent the past hour filling in all of his personal information, copying it off of his birth certificate and onto the paper. After that he finally got to the part on portkeys, he filled in what he wanted and why. All he had to do now was send the form back and wait for a response.

He stretched in his seat and turned to find Hedwig sleeping in his bookcase, curled up against the wall. He decided to wait until it was darker before sending her off. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, it was very cool that muggles could, carry the time around with them without the use of a watch or clock.

The time read that it was nearing noon. He got up and threw himself onto his bed. It was mind-boggling how comfortable he was here, he could even feel his magic calming and settling, recognising the environment as home. It had only been 3 days and yet he was confident enough to just walk into the kitchen and grab a snack. If he had done that at the Dursleys he would have gotten a good belt to the back or even the Weasleys, they would never hurt him but he would always wait until food was offered.

Maybe it was because Tony was his biological dad, or because Harry had magic and Tony didn’t; he didn’t know but he liked it. He liked how this building felt like home, how Tony was so accepting and doing his best, how he could help around the house and not be told to do more, he liked the freedom and fun atmosphere. Hell, he could buy anything he wanted without being questioned, shoes with wheels being an example.

Though, on the topic of money, he was determined to replace everything he had spent in the vault. At first, he was a little hesitant spending money from the Potter vault and only bought what he needed but then he grew more confidant, he started buying what he wanted, like any kid his age would.

He had started to think about what he wanted to do when he was older, he knew about the basic jobs in the magical world; Healer, Teacher, and Auror. He needed to know what else there was. He pulled out his phone intending to message Hermione when he saw their previous texts, still unanswered.

Normally he would be worried about his friend’s health but this was Hermione. If he was in a situation that could harm her she would have sent something other than ‘I’m sorry’. So, he sighed and put his phone away and just decided to add that to his growing list of shit to find out.

He let out a loud and rather unnecessary groan as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. He was bored, generally, during the summer he had chores he had to do, some he didn’t mind, but now he didn’t really have anything to do. He could read one of the books he bought earlier that month but he had too much energy to sit down.

He grinned as an idea popped into his head. Mass baking. With is amazing new shoes, sweatpants, hoodie, and Rex adorned his body he glided into the kitchen and grabbed a carrot. The peel and wash job was quick but it got what he wanted done and he took a bite from the end.

“JARIVS?” he called.

“Young sir?” JARVIS questioned back.

“Could you play some music?” It was hard to bake without music, you’re left alone to your own thoughts and really, Harry only wanted to be with his thoughts when he was in the mood. It’s rather off-putting when you are having fun and suddenly you ask yourself a question and cause an existential crisis. When you choose to delve into your thoughts at least you’re prepared for said crisis.

“Any requests, sir?”

“Hng, any Katy Perry songs from 2008 till present, please.” He took another bite of his carrot and opened the pantry. After a quick, glance he saw enough ingredients for muffins, cookies, and brownies.

When he had all the ingredients ‘Firework’ started to play. He smiled and hummed along. He got out four big bowls and started to make a vanilla muffin batch, into each batch he added something differed; Chocolate chips, Blueberries, Raspberries, Chocolate and Blackberry.

“Cause baby you’re a firework,” He sung and bounced to the song. He ate some of the leftover berries as he continued to sing. “Boom, boom, boom. Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon.” He filled some trays with muffin cases and separated the batter into the cases.

“You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream.” By the time the muffins were in the oven, he had listened to five songs.

He hummed again as he washed the bowls. He decided to try and make some fudge, he had made it before but it barely ever turned out well, he had trouble with not burning it.

“I know a place, where the grass is really greener,” He continued to sing the songs as he stirred the fudge that was resting on the stove. He quickly lined a cake pan with baking paper. He picked up the pot and twirled around to the cake pan, pouring the fudge in and set it in the fridge to cool.

“Summer after high school when we first met.”

He checked on the muffins and pulled them out when he saw they were ready. He let them rest on the stovetop to cool while he cleaned up. He got another clean bowl and added butter, beating it until it was light. He added some icing sugar and started to beat it again until it was fluffy.

“Use to steal your parents’ liquor and climb through the roof, talk about our future, like we had a clue.”

He then split the butter icing into four different bowls. In one bowl he added some cocoa powder and started to beat it through. For the others he blended the respective berries and added them to their own icing, creating blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry icing.

“In another life, I would be your girl. We keep all our promises, be us against the world.”

He took all of the muffins out of the tray and set them on a rack to cool, he had in total 40.

“In another life, I would make you stay, so I don't have to say you were the one that got away, the one that got away.”

“Something smells nice.” Harry let out a high-pitched scream and turned around, startled. One hand over his mouth and the other poised with a spatula. He bent over his knees and let out a breath.

“Don’t do that! Do I need to put a bell on you?” He asked and slammed the spatula down on the bench.

Tony just laughed and maneuvered his way around Harry to see where the smell was coming from. “If you do that then you get a leash. A trade-off. Oh, muffins.” He reached to take one but Harry slapped his hand away.

“Not until they are iced which will be after dinner.” He looked at the time on the microwave and tilted his head. It was still rather early in the evening but not too early for dinner. “What’s for dinner?”

His dad pouted then sighed. “I don’t know. Wanna eat out?”

“Having pizza and burgers constantly isn’t healthy,” He pouted, denying that, and crossed his arms. His brow creased in concentration and worry. Was this how is dad ate most of the time, Take outs? He was lucky he didn’t have any health issues.

“No, at a restaurant with healthy food and all that.” Tony waved his hand and dipped his finger in the blueberry icing and groaned, nodding his head. “I approve.”

“Thanks, though I would have made it either way.” That was a lie if his dad said he didn’t like it then it was going in the trash. He didn’t like to admit it but he loved, craved approval, not necessarily from everyone, only those he cares about. He couldn’t give two shits if some random bloke said his baking sucked cause all that matters is whether his dad or friends like it.

“So, what do you say. Boys night out?” Tony wiggled his eyebrows, a smirk on his face.

Harry pretended to think about it, “I don’t know if my dignity would survive being seen in public with you.” He made a show of frowning.

“Oh ho,” Tony laughed, “Getting cheeky. I guess I’ll just have to beg. Please, spare me this one evening to get to know my spawn better.” He was on both knees, hands held up in front of him.

He sighed, “I guess that is acceptable. But you and I are changing into appropriate clothing first.” He made to leave the kitchen, staring at Tony in a way that would make sure Tony would dress nice, he stopped a few steps later. “How should I dress? Trip to the store or dining with the queen?” He asked with a tilt of the head.

The man cleared his throat and thought about it, “A trip to an over-crowded shopping mall.”

Harry nodded and left the room. Through the windows in his room, he saw it was starting to get dark; he could still see the sun in the distance but the sky was illuminated with reds and oranges.

He walked into his wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. He threw on his Acromantula silk shirt and tight dragonhide trousers. After cleaning up his hair in the bathroom he put his Heelys back on. Checking in the mirror he decided to tuck his shirt in. He ran a hand through his hair and left this room, shoe lights flashing as he glided into the living room.

He found Tony standing by the front door, still buttoning up his shirt. “Ready?” He asked Harry, green eyes closed as he nodded his head.

He followed his dad outside and got inside the car that flashed. Tony turned it on and began to drive. On the way, Harry rested his head in his hand. This was nice. He had been thinking that earlier, he liked this; the freedom, the care, the fun, the comfort. There wasn’t always stress niggling at the back of his mind. Or taunts following him in the hallways. Or worry beating into him at night. No, this was a proper home, a place of safety. Mind he still loved Hogwarts and his friends, he could not love them but it’s hard to enjoy anything when he’s always bombarded by those negative emotions.

He looked up when Tony brushed the back of his hand over his arm, “Dinner time, kiddo.” Tony smiled at him and Harry snorted.

When he got out of the car he noticed the busy street and loud noises. He turned to Tony and found him already crowded by paparazzi, he raised an eyebrow in bemusement. He walked past the crowd and saw Tony eye him. He mouthed ‘Good luck’ and walked inside the restaurant. He took a seat inside and looked out the door with a smirk, Tony was slowly but surely fighting his way out of the pile. Eventually, Tony made it out and went inside to Harry.

“That was rude,” He huffed and crossed his arms, facing away from Harry.

“I did say my dignity wouldn’t survive tonight, I was only delaying the inevitable.” Harry waved his hand and followed Tony further inside. He took cover behind his dad as Tony got a table and was led towards it by the receptionist.

Tony handed him a menu, “Pick anything.”

Harry smiled and began to read it. Most of the food was called something fancy in French so he just looked at the ingredient list underneath. Even though it was Wednesday he went with the Sunday Roast, he just felt like a good lamb and photo dish.

“Can I get your order?” asked a sweet voice. Harry looked up at the server, her hair was brown and wavy and her makeup was heavy. Usually, he wasn’t one to criticize people but he just couldn’t understand how all that makeup could be comfortable.

Tony looked at Harry, waiting for him to speak. Harry just took at Tony, begging him to order for him. Tony just shook his head and continued to read the menu.

He gulped and stared at his cutlery. “Um, the… could I please get the Sunday Roast?” he didn’t look up, finding comfort in the shiny silverware.

He let out a breath when the lady jotted it down, “And your drink?”

“Do you have any milk drinks?” He started to fold the serviette in place of fiddling with his hands.

“Yep, we have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry milkshakes, cartons of milk in the same flavour as well as regular milk, and hot chocolate,” She answered, switching her weight from one foot to the other.

He shot a glance over to Tony and saw him hiding a smirk in his menu. That man would pay. “Uh, chocolate milk carton please.” He chanced a look at the server and saw her smiling down at her note pad, she looked up at Tony and asked for his order.

When they were alone again he glared at Tony, “Maybe I’ll hand those muffins out to the homeless and make you watch them eat the sweets.”

“You wouldn’t do that. Besides, you have to learn to order food eventually.” Tony said, taking a sip of his water. Harry took a second, Tony was right, especially if he decided to move here to live with his dad. He sighed, resigned.

“I understand, maybe a little warning next time though,” he said and looked up when Tony snorted.

“That’s not how parenting works, we don’t warn you so we can enjoy your reactions.” Harry huffed, he took notice that Tony actually called what he just did ‘parenting’. Maybe he was getting more comfortable with a child in his care.

* * *

Dinner had been delicious, reminding him of dinners at Hogwarts. Tony was eager to leave and have dessert, only to be disappointed when Harry told him they had to change first.

Once he was dressed comfortably, he iced the muffins with their icing and diced up the fudge. He put the muffins on plates along with the fudge and left them on the counter.

Tony popped in soon after and took one of each, moaning at the taste. “You should open a bakery when you’re older.” Harry smiled. It sounded like a good idea. To have a bakery that was his, sell all his baking.

He hadn’t considered a muggle job or career for when he graduated, he’d have to look at what options there were.

“Dad?” he asked in a quiet voice.

Tony startled at the title and looked up at Harry with a soft smile, “Yes?”

“I was wondering if there is some kind of book or pamphlet on what careers there are. I was thinking earlier about what I want to do when I’m older so I can figure out what I need to focus my study on but I realised that I don’t know a lot when it comes to that.” He had started to ramble, feeling dumb for his question.

“I’m sure there is, Harry. I can have JARVIS compile a list and send it to you if you’d like?” The question was a shock, not many 13-year-olds were thinking about their future. Though, Harry had hunted him down and come to New York all alone so he guessed Harry qualified as ‘mature’ enough to start thinking like that. He was glad that Harry was able to pick out his own future.

“Yes, thank you,” he nodded in relief that he wasn’t being laughed at. Before taking a seat on the couch he grabbed a glass of iced water and sipped on it while he rested his head against the back of the chair, legs folded in front of him.

“So, what are you thinking at the moment?” He took a seat next to his son, mimicking his seating position.

“Just wondering about school,” he said around his glass.

“Silly, I meant what are you thinking, career-wise, at the moment.” Tony opened his eyes to ruffle Harrys’ hair, Harry subconsciously leaning into it.

“Well, earlier I was thinking Teacher and H-Doctor.” Harry was pretty sure the term ‘Healer’ wasn’t used much in the muggle world. Though, that substitution did put another idea in his head, Muggle Medicine. He could be a Doctor, Nurse, uuhhh and the other stuff muggles studied in medical terms; brains and surgery.

“Interesting, so the complete opposite I’m interested in,” Tony nodded, they were good options, except teaching, that doesn’t pay much.

“That bakery option sounded really nice, too.” Harry leaned to the side and slide until he was leaning up against Tony, head on his shoulder.

“Bedtime I should think, kiddo.” He took Harry’s glass and put it on the table, picking his too light son up and carrying him down the hall. The hall was dark but Harry’s bedroom light automatically lit up when he entered, laying the boy on the bed to pull back the sheets.

He crouched down once his son was settled and kissed him on the forehead. He felt regret on missing out on the boys first years of life, he was enjoying the time he spent with the boy and wished it could have been longer. He sighed and stood up, tucking the blanket up to his chin and left the room.

As soon as Tony left, Harry blearily opened his eyes. “Hedwig?” He groggily called out into the dark. A few seconds later the owl flew over to her owner and nuzzled him. He stuck an arm out and pet her, “There is a form on my desk that needs to go back to MACUSA, do you mind taking it for me?”

He hooted in confirmation, picked up the rolled paper in her beak and flew out through an open window.

When he saw Hedwig was gone he smiled into his blanket, his dad had kissed him good night and tucked him in. A fuzzy feeling bubbled up in him as he fell asleep with a slight upturn of his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment, I love comments. 
> 
> Also, if you notice any mistakes, be it grammar, spelling, or in the plot then let me know. I really like the help with stuff that I can't see.


	5. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I would like to apologize for taking so long with this chapter.
> 
> I had posted the previous chapter a week before the last week of school, in that one week I got a little bit of the chapter done but the next week I was backed up with school.
> 
> Then, during our two-week break, I got sick and had photography homework to do.
> 
> Now, finally, I have managed to complete the chapter with a couple of thousand extra words than normal.
> 
> I will say that it will sometimes take a while for me to get the new chapter done since it is nearing the end of the school year and I have exams and assessments to study for. But! I won't abandon this work, even if it takes a few years (hopefully not) to get it done.
> 
> Now, please, enjoy this chapter.

Harry was busy reading through his mothers’ diary when Hedwig came back. He was nearing the end of her third year when she started to knock against the window. He carefully set the journal down and opened the window, it was dark out and nearing midnight. He had been struggling to sleep, the anxiety of potentially going back to Hogwarts catching him by surprise.

The ball of white landed on his bed and stuck her leg out. Attached was a golden tube, which when he removed it grew until it was about the same size as his forearm. “Thank you, girl.” He ran his fingers through her plumage, causing her to puff her chest and preen.

The tube was fairly heavy, probably because it was metal and when it shook something rattled inside it. He twisted the top and watched as it came off, he then shook it over his bed and watched as two things fell out; paper and pen. With his new possessions, he went over to his desk and unfurled the very official-looking paper. Bold letters at the top of the page read, “Portkey Contract.” The top left corner of the page was decorated with the MACUSA logo.

_ This is a contract drawn up specifically for your person. _

_ Please read the following and sign at the bottom. _

_ Harry James Potter, along with this contract came a pen, that pen is your portkey but it will only be active once the contract is signed. Once active, the portkey shall take you to the MACUSA entrance hall, from there you can use the floo network to get to your point of interest. To return after using the portkey you must be in the MACUSE entrance hall and speak the password again. Please make sure you read the full length of this document before signing. _

_ In signing this contract you agree to the following; _

_ I will not use this portkey in front of muggles that are unaware of magic. _

_ I will not give or lend this portkey to anyone unless the circumstances are threatening life and death. _

_ I will only use this portkey in front unaware muggles if the situation is life or death. _

_ Before doing the previously stated, I will find the most covered area to prevent the possible exposure of our world. _

_ If you are seen by muggles using the portkey, I will immediately report the incident to the Auror department of MACUSA. _

_ I will keep this portkey on my person at all times, unless in a state of undress and unconsciousness such as showering, sleeping or swimming. _

_ By signing below, I am agreeing to this contract and in breaking any of these agreed regulations I am agreeing to attend a to be scheduled court date to discuss the punishment for breaking them. _

_ Punishment for breaking this contract could be; _

_ Community service. _

_ House arrest. _

_ A fine of 500 gallons or more. _

_ Temporary restrictions on magic. _

_ A temporary block on one’s magic. _

_ The permanent loss of one’s magic. _

_ Jail time. _

_ This portkey will last one year after signing bellow. After this contract ends, the portkey will lose its properties and you are alliable for a new portkey should you require it. _

_ Signature:________ _

After rereading the contract he signed the free space bellow and watched as the page blanked in a flash of light. A few seconds later, a new text appeared in the centre of the page.

_ The password for your portkey is: Lilies _

The words stayed for a few minutes before the entire page disappeared. He turned to see the pen glow briefly then settle, looking like a normal pen.

He yawned a jaw splitting yaw, arms stretched above his head and back arched to get a satisfying crack. He grabbed the pen and set it down next to his wand under his pillow and started on his mums fourth year.

_ 1-9-1994 _

_ Hello, again Diary, _

_ I am once again ranting about Potter. Merlin, he can be so stupid sometimes. Today during the welcoming feast Potter had somehow managed to spell the food, Gods only know how he does it. His target of choice was the potato salad. Anyone that ate the potato salad turned completely blue. Skin, hair, eyes, teeth, nails, everything was blue! At this point, I don’t question how he does it but I will forever be curious about when he got the time to do it. _

_ To make the situation worse, he’d spelled the Slytherins food to turn them red instead. The feast ended in a food fight; I still have beans in my hair. _

_ I can’t wait for classes to begin, this year I chose Arithmancy and Ancient runes as my electives. They looked like really cool subjects when I checked the books in Flourish and Blotts. When I leave Hogwarts, I want to join a college and study both Magical and Muggle medicine, maybe I can help people, create new ways to help people by combining both Muggle and Magical medicine. _

_ Anyway, it’s getting really late and I need to write to mum and dad. _

_ Good Night! _

After another yawn, he settled down in his bed and let Morpheus embrace him.

Tomorrow marked one week since he’d moved in with his dad and 10 days until Hogwarts starts back up. If he was going to be doing something about his schooling then he had to do it soon.

The next morning he hoisted himself up from his bed and made his way to the kitchen. There he found his dad, eating a quickly made sandwich.

Tony looked up when he heard Harry enter, “Ah, I was just about to come to find you. I need to go to the Tower for a few days, the labs there are larger and have better equipment. I was wondering if you wanted to tag along, I could introduce you to the Avengers,” He said.

Harry nodded, smiling, “Sure, sounds fun.”

“Usually I take my suit, it can get me there in around an hour but my suit is a one passenger kind of thing,” He said and smiled, “That means we’ll have to drive.”

Harry groaned at the idea of staying in a car for three days; again.

“If I have to suffer through a three-day car ride, can we at least stay longer than a few days,” he put on his best pouty face and made his eyes water a little to add to the effect.

“Sure thing, make sure you pack for about a week then.” Harry whooped and ran to his room to pack; a few clothes and books should do it. He had to ask his dad for a bag after he realised all he had was his trunk but after that, he was ready to leave. He couldn’t wait, as much as he loved his new home he could never pass up the opportunity to get somewhere new for a while.

Tony ruffled Harrys already messy hair before getting into the driver side of the car. That new warmth he’d experienced since coming here welled up inside him, he’d never felt this anywhere else, but he liked it.

* * *

Never again, he swore it, never again will he spend more than one day inside a car. It was torture, at one point he even considered telling Tony about magic just so he wouldn’t have to suffer through that again.

Speaking of Tony, he had been pushing the speed limit and got them there the night of the second day. Tony showed Harry to a spare bedroom before he said goodnight and they both went to bed. 

The next morning he threw on some sweatpants and a hoodie, he groggily made his way to the kitchen; he remembered where it was from when he was here last. He froze as soon as he entered, guns and a bow pointed right at him. He raised his hands as a sign of peace and muttered, “What a welcoming party this is.”

“Who are you?” He looked at the person who demanded his identity, she looked like his mum, all apart from the eyes.

“Uh, Harry, ma’am,” he mumbled, feeling a little flustered at the attention. He looked at everyone in the room; there was his mums' lookalike and a blond with a bow. He couldn’t be too sure but they looked like the Avengers. It would make sense, he was in Avengers Tower but he liked the nicknames so he stuck with them

“How old are you?” She looked at him incredulously. Everyone he’d met so far though he was a little kid so it was fair to say she probably thought the same.

“13, ma’am.” Brief surprise flittered across the face of everyone in the room, she opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted when the elevator dinged. All eyes turned to the metal door, the woman and blond bow guy keeping him in their peripheral vision. A second, more familiar blond stepped out of the doors and Harry perked up, “Steve!” 

Steve looked up from his hands and towards Harry, “Harry? What are you doing here?” he pushed past everyone in front of Harry and clapped him on the shoulder, “Why does Natasha have her gun held at you?”

“I don’t know, I just came out here from some breakfast and next thing I know this happened.” He pouted a little, he was hungry and still tired, all he wanted was to eat and maybe go back to sleep.

“Doesn’t explain why you’re here.” He put his hand on his hip in a chastising manner. Weird, he’d only a day to get to know Steve but he was so comfortable to be around, no awkward air smothering him. 

“Ah! I tagged along with my dad,” he smiled cheerfully at him. That was a sentence he had never said before but he’d definitely say it again. Calling Tony dad was still a new thing, out loud he barely used the noun but in his head he used it more than the man’s name. He hoped he would feel more comfortable saying it soon. 

“Dad?” Steve puzzled. Once again fate seemed to have amazing timing and his dad walked into the room, right past them all and started to make a coffee. Steve’s eyes bulged and he gaped, “Dad!?” 

Harry nodded and carefully walked around the group of gawking adults and into the kitchen, “Morning, dad,” his smile still hadn’t left his face and only brightened when he used the noun, gods it was amazing to have family and actually announce it aloud. 

Tony grunted a reply, still not awake, and took a long gulp of coffee, “Morning, kid.” 

The Avengers stood still before Steve shook himself out of his trance, “’ the choice is his, and if he says no then I’ll be going back to the UK’ You were talking about Tony?” Steve recited Harry’s earlier words. Harry nodded again and started to eat the bowl of cereal Tony had prepared for him. 

“Wait, what’s going on? I need the story.” Harry startled at the new voice and looked at bowman who was looking at Steve, Tony, and Harry with a mix of confusion and excitement.

Harry just shrugged and settled on a very short version. “Hm, I found out Tony was my dad and I came here to see him. After I told him he was my dad he went into a kind of shock, when he got over it he picked me up from the hotel I was staying at and took me home.” He drunk down the left-over milk and put his bowl in the sink along with a few others. 

Bowman huffed, “That wasn’t a story.”

“That’s all you’re getting,” Harry surprised himself with his own words, he didn’t want to tell the story but he didn’t mean to be an asshole, the words just came out. He was about to apologize when he was interrupted.

“So, Stark reproduced. Do you have his famed intelligence?” His mums' lookalike said. Harry flushed at the intelligence comment. He didn’t think he was overly smart, just average. 

“Oh, I gotta know this, how many of my amazing genes did I pass on.” He looked over at Tony with a small nonaggressive glare for his comment. “Actually, JARVIS?” Harry cocked his head to the side, wondering what Tony was doing but lunged at the man when he realised. He was going to look Harry up!

“Yes sir?” came the accented reply.

“Look Harry up, I wanna know about his school life,” The genius managed to get out while dodging Harry. 

“I have the results, sir, would you like me to read them out?” Harry growled at Tony in warning but his dad didn’t heed it and asked JARVIS to read the results aloud.

“Harry James Potter attended St. Grogory’s Primary school-” Harry cut JARVIS off by singing twinkle twinkle little star as loud as he could but Tony just covered the boy's mouth with his hand “- He attended school for 5 years before he was pulled out for unknown reasons. During his first year at school, he was at the top of the class, his teachers wanted to move him up a year or two but his guardians declines, saying Harry cheated on his tests. After his first year, his grades took a dramatic drop, going straight to the lowest in the class. Teachers reported seeing bruises and even limps from time to time and when he was sent to the nurse he assured everyone that he was just roughhousing at home. He was seen spending his lunches in the library, bathrooms, and sometimes with his teachers.” 

Harry pried the hand off his face when it went slack and took a seat on the couch. 

“From the top to the bottom. Harry?” The first person to speak was Steve, “Harry, I may not be as smart as Tony but even I can take a guess as to why that happened.”

Harry looked away, not wanting to talk about it. 

“Leave it be, Capsical.” Harry looked up at Tony, “If he doesn’t want to talk about it then we won’t make him.” He smiled softly at his dad who smiled back. His dad was awesome.

“But Tony-“

“No buts, he can tell us when he’s ready. I’ve had some suspicions but I’ve been waiting for Harry to tell me himself,” he took a seat next to Harry and pulled his head to lean on his shoulder.

Surprise coursed through him, how did Tony figure it out? He hadn’t brought it up or even thought about it too much. For years he’s been able to hide it, from his muggle teachers, strangers, and everyone at Hogwarts. He was glad Tony wasn’t making him talk about it. He closed his eyes and cuddled into Tony’s side, soaking up his warmth and listening to the whirl of the arc reactor. 

When he opened his eyes again he saw the Avengers all sitting on a seat reading a book, file or on their phones. Nearly everyone was here; Steve, Bowman, the lookalike, Doctor Banner.

The silence was relaxing but a little stifling. Bruce saw this and tried to make Harry feel better, “How’s your wrist?” he asked.

Harry smiled up at the man, “It’s good, it stopped hurting a week ago so I took the wrap off.”

Bruce looked like he wanted to scold Harry but he held it in, just barely. Harry nearly laughed, it seemed Madam Pomfrey wasn’t the only healer he had that effect on. 

“I want to know what happened, Harry. I care about you,” Tony murmured, trying not to break to silence. When Harry’s eyes widened he was quick to reassure him, “not now, whenever you want or feel comfortable. We’ll be waiting for when you want to and when you do we will listen.” 

Harry felt an odd sort of numb, he was scared, he had never told anyone this before. Not Hermione, Ron, the Headmaster or any of his teachers. He had tried to tell his teachers when he was five but no one listened, at that point, the punishments and chores weren’t terrible but still someone no one would do to their child. He wanted to tell his dad, he wanted to put his trust in him and tell him everything but he was scared.

I wasn’t just fear though, there was an overwhelming affection. The love in Tony’s voice washing over him like a wave. This was everything he had ever wanted. Growing up he wished for someone to take him away, a long-lost family member, the nice lady across the road, his teachers, anyone. He had hoped someone would notice and save him and they had, his dad had noticed, Steve noticed. 

He’d spent the past week with thoughts like these whirling around. The disbelieve and surrealism of it all hitting him at random times, he just hadn’t gotten used to it yet. 

“I…I don’t want to say much. Just, ask a question and I’ll answer,” he stuttered, his voice a mix of nervousness, anticipation, and apprehension.

His dad rubbed a hand up and down his arm as he continued to cuddle into him. “Who did it.”

Harry bit his lip; it was a simple question and he was glad he wasn’t asked anything personal or uncomfortable to answer. He mumbled something, smothering his face in his dad's shoulder, seeking the comfort it gave.

“You’ll have to speak up, Harry,” Tony spoke softly, still rubbing his arm.

“My relatives; aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon, and my cousin Dudley,” his answer was quiet, fitting the mood of the room. It was hard to describe the atmosphere they had created but it was a gentle, soft, quiet, tired, comfortable feel. Like the Gryffindor common room on a rainy day but with less cheer. The other occupants kept their gaze on the device or book in their hand but kept on listening, giving Harry the comfort of knowing he wasn’t being stared at.

“How long have you been with them?” Steve quarried.

“Hm, since I was 15 months.” Slowly he relaxed, they were starting easy for him.

“When did it start and how?” Tony very nearly whispered the question; it was so quiet.

“It?” Harry asked, a face of innocents. Tony looked down and gave Harry a pointed look, he sighed and answered the question.

“Around 4, once my walking and coordination were good enough they had me doing things like the laundry, dusting, dishes. After that, I had to do the cooking, mopping, the garden and so on. I don’t mind doing some of it but having to do it all in one day is tiring, especially when I get punished for not getting it all done.” Most kids his age had done chores as he did so he wasn’t complaining but some days it got too much and he was left sore and exhausted, it only got more tiring when school started.

“Punished?” This time it was Lookalike…Natasha, who asked. She looked up from the case file she was holding, sitting forward a little.

He was a little uncomfortable with the question, he’d rather not go around divulging his weaknesses but he guessed it was okay to tell the Avengers, they are superheroes.

He wrung his hands to distract him, “I…it wasn’t that bad at first, just a few slaps but as I got older they got harder and tried new methods. Just things like punching, slapping, kicking, sometimes even a belt. The worst they’ve done is use something in the room to hit me with or push me down the stairs. It was nothing I couldn’t handle,” he confided. He was being truthful, mostly. He could handle the pain and hurt, didn’t mean he wanted it to happen. 

“Harry, kiddo, just because you can handle it doesn’t make it right or okay. You understand that don’t you?” his dad had spoken again, he liked it when his dad spoke, it was soothing.

He nodded, “Yeah, but sometimes when I do something wrong, I feel like should be punished.”

“That’s called a healthy conscience, you know you did something you shouldn’t have so you feel like you should be punished for it,” Steve said, smiling slightly at Harry's innocence. 

“Would you feel up to getting checked out?” Harry looked up at Tony’s question, tilting his head to the side not understanding it. “If Bruce were to do some test just to make sure there isn’t any long-lasting damage.”

Harry thought about it for a second, normally he was averse to any kind of medical treatment, Madam Pomfrey knew that and Doctor Banner had a taste of it but if his dad really wanted to then he could deal with it. So, he nodded, “Sure.”

* * *

They hadn’t done or said much after that. The Avengers had all come to the collective decision to teach him self-defence as well as some basic knowledge on all sorts of weapons. Though, his dad made sure to make everyone promise not to let him keep any guns on his person or train with them alone. 

He was looking forward to his first lesson, perhaps he’ll learn to kick Malfoys butt. 

After his first lesson, he was having second thoughts. Everything hurt. Everywhere. Steve, that damned mass of solid muscle, had Harry stretching and running for the first hour. After that, he went on to beat the shit out of him. They all called it ‘Kinaesthetic learning’ or ‘learning as you do it’, he should find that being hit repeatedly is not fun and will develop reaction skills to block or dodge the attacks. Harry called it being an arsehole. 

Harry found Clint’s lessons the most fun. He had to drop the ‘Bow Man’ when he accidentally addressed the man as such. To use the bow he needed more muscle on his arms but hopefully, Steve will help him with that in his annual beatings. 

Natasha taught him to use both a gun and baby knives or daggers as they were supposed to be called. Harry liked the daggers too, the guns were loud and scary, they even did the opposite of their job, protect the wielder, when they recoil. 

He spent both Saturday and Sunday training with the team. They all had free time and there was nothing better to do. Though they had to let Harry rest and to do that they resorted to giving him books to read. 

On Monday, 6 days before Hogwarts starts back up, he found a window of free time. Everyone was busy. Clint and Natasha were on a mission, Bruce and Tony were called away to discuss something so he was all alone. 

\----

He let out a breath and made his way to his room, now was a better chance than any to get this shit done. The booklet was perched inside a side pocket in his borrowed bag, the page on the department of Magical Education bookmarked.

The department was located on the 5th floor and there was no need for booking since it was a fairly quiet place. 

“JARVIS? I’ll be leaving for a few hours.” He got dressed appropriately and grabbed the necessary items for his day out; this included the pen.

“Of course, young sir. Sir has tasked me with looking after you when he can’t. If you permit me I can download myself onto your mobile device so I can report to your father if something happens.” Harry thought it through and agreed, it was the easiest course of action. He could decline but that would risk JARVIS telling Tony that he was leaving. Plus, with all the magic around MACUSA, he doubted JARVIS would be able to work properly.

Once JARVIS was done, he went to the elevator, walked out the front doors and took a left. He came across a park which was rather large with trees surrounding it. There was one group of trees that had large coverage. Taking refuge behind them, he grabbed the portkey and muttered the password. 

Seconds later he was being pulled through a tube. His feet touching hard ground allowed him to focus on staying upright. He achieved that barely, his legs buckled slightly, he held his hands out in front of him for stability. The hall was busy with people coming and going. 

A ding brought his attention back to him and he saw an elevator filling with people. He jogged over to the doors and managed to stuff himself in. The elevator stopped at each floor which ended up being half empty by the time it got to the 5th floor.

Just like the booklet had stated, the floor was empty and silent. 

It was akin to the department of International Travel quiet, empty. The only difference he could see was the lack of someone behind a desk. Instead, stood a table and a sheet of paper. Upon closer inspection, it was a form meant to help him find the best suitable person to talk to. 

Once he was done with yet another form, there were so damn many, the paper disappeared and, in its place, a small slip giving him directions towards Merlin knows where. 

There were windows all along the wall, giving a perfect view into each office. Most of them were empty, Harry guessed everyone was in a community sort of space. Eventually, he stumbled across the room number that was on his piece of paper and knocked on the door. 

After a call of ‘enter,’ he walked inside and took a seat on one of the three empty seats. Behind the jellybean desk sat a young man that appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He had light brown hair as well as eyes to match. With taking a closer look Harry could see vague muscles through his white shirt. Admittedly, he found himself with a light blush. 

Merlin, he hated puberty. He had been told by his realities all about it, it happened to everyone they had said. Their reasoning being telling him was that they didn’t want to have two bastard children under their name. He briefly wondered if Hogwarts had a class to teach the students everything or if only the parents did it. He shrugged and took a seat.

* * *

It was silent, expected with how early it was; most people came in a bit later. He had been sitting in the lunchroom alone when the planner in his pants pocket started to heat up. Knowing that it meant he had someone meeting with him, he made his way towards his office. He walked the familiar hallways and entered his office. 

It was cool with the morning chill but a quick spell had it warming up comfortably. Not even a few seconds after taking his seat, a knock sounded and he called for the person or people to enter. A little boy, not even in school, walked in through the door and took a seat. The kid sat still for a moment, eyeing him before blinking and shaking his head.

“Hello,” He said, the kid jumped a bit and opened his mouth to greet him back. “Are you here alone?”

The boy nodded, “Yes, my dad is a muggle and doesn’t know about magic yet.” His voice seemed to shake a little, nervousness he concluded.

“Ah, I understand. Though, that leaves me to wonder how you know about magic unless a family member has already told you.” He tried to relax his posture to help calm the boy, it worked slightly as the kid unconsciously drooped his shoulders. 

“I was told when I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts.” He tilted his head in confusion. He would be starting his third year of magical education this year. Suddenly, he thought back to when Tony first saw him, he had said Harry looked like an 8-year-old kid. He sighed and pushed his glasses up when they slipped a little. “I’m 13, I’ve been going to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for two years already.”

The man’s eyes widened a little, his mouth fighting to hide a smile. “That would explain a few things, yes. Anyway, my name is Jay, what can I help you with today?” 

“I’m Harry. It’s kind of confusing. I want to try homeschooling, but I don’t want to unenroll myself from school in case I don’t like it.”

“Is there a backstory to this?”

“It’s a long story.” Harry saw the man raise an eyebrow, imploring him to continue. With a groan, he retold his story. “Well, I recently found out that I have a dad that is a muggle. I don’t feel comfortable telling him about magic as he is a man of science and probably won’t believe me if I told him. Over the last few days, I have realized I want to spend more time with him and I can’t do that from Scotland, but I also don’t want to neglect my studies.” He said with only one breath.

Zac snorted and smiled again, “Alright, I understand. I already have the beginnings of a solution if you’re willing to hear it.”

“Yes, please,” his black hair bounced as he nodded his head.

“Well, the first is getting a tutor, though you said you don’t want your dad to find out and having some random man coming to his house every day isn’t exactly stealthy. A rectification of that is going to meet a tutor somewhere but once again your dad could wonder where you are disappearing to every day.” He clicked a pen, spinning it in his hand as he thought. Situations like this always excited him, it got him thinking and he loved problem-solving. 

“I had thought about some kind of self-study, but I wouldn’t know if I was doing something right or not. And if I had questions then I would have no one to ask.” He looked up at Harry, it was a good idea, the best they had at the moment. There were a few problems, but they could be fixed.

“Well, to know tell if you’ve learned anything correctly teachers usually test their students.” He mumbled, an idea was slowly forming in his mind, he removed and added different things to try and create the perfect solution. “You could do a weekly test. It would test you on everything you were supposed to learn for that week. We can get you a tutor to organize all of that, and you can owl or meet up with them if you have any questions.” He looked up and at Harry. “What do you think?”

His green eyes lit up; it was perfect. “It sounds great to me.”

“Good, now all I have to do is get it approved.” He pulled out a formal looking piece of paper and began to fill it out.

“Approved?” Harry asked.

“Yes, it is a matter of your education and since you aren’t just getting transferred it needs to be approved.” Harry nodded in understanding and began to fidget and bounce his leg. 

“Current schooling…” He looked up and saw Jay putting his pen down, “We forgot about that part,” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Oh, well. I don’t want to unenroll from Hogwarts but I don’t want to go back for this term either.” His arms were perched on the armrests and his head was balancing on top of his hands. 

“Well, you could fill out a student exchange form. It fits the situation apart from you not going to another school but I think it will still work. Alright, that’s all we can do for today, I’ll have an owl sent when I know if it's approved or not.” He stood and held out his hand for Harry to shake, even his hands looked to small. He smiled as the boy said his thanks and left the room.

* * *

His phone said it was early in the afternoon, that means he could go to Celant Alley. He wondered over to the nearest floo and grabbed a handful of floo powder. He didn’t know any addresses so he hoped the Alley name would be enough. Sudden flashbacks last year’s mistake made him grimace but there wasn’t anything else he could do apart from asking someone, he shuddered, that wasn’t going to happen. 

The powder dispersed in a cloud when he threw it down, green flames erupting seconds later. They weren’t hot, a little warm yes but not painfully so. He, very clearly, said the Alley name and was whooshed off into a blur of colours, landing on his knees on a wooden floor.

A hand grabbed at his arm and he was hauled up to his feet and guided off, he felt the hands pushing him down and he realised he had been taken to a seat.

“Alright there, kid?” He took a second to rub his eyes before they settled and he looks up towards the voice.

“Yes, thank you.” He bowed his head slightly and ruffled his hair when it fell into his eyes. “Um, would you mind telling me where I am?”

The man, he noticed, took on a confused expression, “Well, you’re in the Pointed Hat Inn of course. Did you not say our floo address when using the network?” 

He shook his head “No, I don’t know any of the addresses yet so I just called out the Alley name.” Now that he could see, he looked around. The room looked like the Leaky Cauldron except the wooden furniture seemed newer and more stable.

“That’s a very silly thing to do, you could have ended up in any one of these shops, some of them aren’t child friendly. Next time ask for a floo address,” he said sternly, reminding Harry of a parent telling off their child. It shocked him slightly, that this stranger would care enough to reprimand him.

Not knowing what else to do he looked down and nodded, taking the mans words to heart. He was right, he could have landed in a shop that kidnapped children to use as potion parts.

“Good. I have to get back to serving but is there anything I can help you with?” 

Harry looked up, “Yes, actually there is. I was wondering if there was an enchanting shop of some kind. You see, I had the idea of starting my own photo album but my family is muggle and those bulky magical cameras are too obvious, not to mention ugly, and I wanted to see if there was a way to make a muggle camera have the same properties as a magical one.” The man waited patiently for him to finish his rambling. When he finished, a hand ruffled his hair.

“Sounds like an interesting idea. There is a place at the corner of the first left turn you could check out. A small rundown little building, shouldn’t be hard to spot.”

“Alright, thank you for your help.” He stood up and made for the door.

“No problem, kid.” 

The difference between Celant alley and Diagon alley was plain as day. The American wizards seemed more ahead of time than the British ones. The streets were paved with worn down bricks, the shops were modern, large, and colourful. Bright vibrant colours down the street, at the end of the path Harry could see a small green clearing. People walked the streets talking and holding their bags. It was less crowded than Diagon, possibly because of the wider street. It was like seeing Diagon for the first time again, the only word to describe it is ‘magical’.

Snapping out of his daze he stuck to the left until he came to the first corner, the shop the man was talking about stuck out like a sore thumb. The door was painted black, bleached lighter by the sun. He went inside, the door ringing a bell. It was very empty; some drawers and cupboards lined the walls. 

“Can I help you?” He looked up and saw an elderly man peeking out from behind a curtain. Harry snorted in his head, this placed seemed to be the American version of Ollivanders.

“Yes, actually, I had an idea for something and I wanted help with making It,” He shifted on his feet and looked at the man.

“Yes, yes. Let’s hear about it then,” Excitement flashed across the man's face.

“I was wondering if it was possible to change a muggle item to be magical.” 

“Hm, depends on what it is. Come through here.” He held up an arm to open the curtain. Harry went right through. The Dursleys always told Dudley to never talk to a stranger but they told Harry the opposite, ‘If we can get rid of him then good riddance’ they would say.

On the other side of the faded red curtain was a simple couch and table, that’s all; the room was small so it wouldn’t have been able to fit anything else. He took a seat and waited for the man the start the convocation, but when he didn’t Harry held his hand out, “My name is Harry, sir. Nice to meet you.” 

The hand that gripped his back was cold and calloused. “Burlon Steraf. Let’s hear more about this idea then.”

“Well, I want to take photos of my family and friends, moving magic ones but my family are Muggles and the magical cameras a huge and bulky. So, I was wondering if there was a way to give a muggle camera the ability to take moving pictures.” He wrung his hands and looked at his lap, Mister Steraf had kept eye contact and it was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.

“Ah, yes. Sounds like a lovely idea. A great project too. Have you thought about any ways to do that yet or shall we start from the beginning?” 

“I don’t know much about magic but I do know that it doesn’t mix well with electricity. To get around that I figured some kind of rechargeable magic battery, turning magic into the power source.” He looked up at Burlon and saw him writing on a piece of paper, he seemed really into it.

“Yes, to make pictures move, it’s just a combination of runes and spells. Did you know that?” his grey eyes looked at Harry, he shook his head. “Well, runes are carved onto the camera. When a picture is taken they activate and when the image is printed, all you have to do is use a spell to unfreeze them. It’s brilliant, it also means that the only issue is the magic and electricity problem which you seem to have mostly solved.” He placed his paper down and smiled at Harry.

“The problem now is those magical batteries. We need to find something that can hold magic over a long period and we need to figure a way to recharge them. I’ll be right back.” 

Harry watched as he left and took that time to lean over and gaze at the piece of paper Burlon was writing on. His amusement grew when he saw that it was full of doodles, there were some bullet points but it was mostly doodles.

After a few minutes of bouncing his leg, Burlon came back into the small room carrying a short stack of leather-bound books. The old man gave him half the pile. “These are all the books that I have on magic compatible elements,” he said then began to read the first book on top of his pile.

Harry nodded and flipped to the first page, it looked handwritten going by the crossed-out words and inkblots. All the journals were rather small making it easy for them to read quickly. Harry got through the first one in a little under an hour, though he had skim read it. His first two books were a bust, the first was on fabrics and the second was on woods. Both wouldn’t work for what he wanted.

Burlon gasped and wrote something down, the movement prompting Harry to look up. He quickly went back to his books, he skipped the next one after reading the first page, he didn’t want to know how some muggle animals had more magic than muggles themselves. 

Finally, after a couple of hours, he found something. “Sir, I think I found something.” The passage was about rocks, reading the book sparked the memory of the warding book and about warding stones. “It says here that Flint is one of the strongest Sedimentary rocks. In a warding book I read, it said that Sedimentary rocks are used to anchor wards because of their strong connection to magic. I figured since it’s so strong and can anchor magic, maybe it would be able to hold enough magic to work as batteries.” 

Burlon jumped in his seat, “Yes! It’s a marvellous idea and it should work too.” He closed the journals he was reading.

“What now sir?” he asked, his question jolted the old man back to reality and he smiled down at Harry.

“Now, we only have two things left to do. Create a runic combination that will keep the magic inside the flint and a way to charge it. Though it shouldn’t be too hard, similar things have been done before so it’s more of runic modification than starting from scratch.”

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a blur. It was exciting, in Harry's opinion, to do everything he had done with Mister Steraf. The research, problem-solving, even the runic modification. He had always found enjoyment in learning, even as a kid; though he never showed it. He didn’t want to risk the punishment that came with his knowledge, being punished always bought pain.

When he bought his first report letter home all he knew for the next few days was pain, a punishment for each subject. 

He was fine with this though, he knew it wasn’t okay or normal, not that he was normal, but the subconscious fear of the pain that he associated with good grades always hindered him when it came time for exams. His grades didn’t affect his life at Hogwarts so he was fine with hiding, besides, this trip has taught him that learned doesn’t hurt, its showing and using what he learned that ends with him in pain.

He snapped out of his trance and looked down at the receipt in his hand. In the past three years of being a part of the wizarding world, never had he been given a receipt. He had paid in full, which surprised the old man because of his age and the actual price. He hadn’t expected it to cost as much considering they were mostly just talking, reading, and thinking but after he questioned the price it made more sense. He had paid for the flint, flint shipment, and the runic work the Mister Steraf was going to do on the flint after it arrived. 

So now, at roughly 7 at night, he was heading on his way home. He froze before entering the Pointed Hat inn when a thought hit him. He didn’t know when he was going to be free of the Avengers again, not that he wanted to be free of them, and he still had those pictures to print for Neville. 

Turning in a quick circle he spotted a bookstore. He Anxiously made his way up to the woman behind the desk. “Excuse me?” 

The lady looked up, “Yes?” 

“Well, uh, I have some pictures that I want to copy and send to a friend but I don’t know any spells that can copy things.” He started shuffling his feet. He didn’t know where this sudden anxiety came from, this past week with his dad had been the most anxiety-free week he’s ever had. He decided to think about it later and return to the present convocation.

“well, there aren’t many long-term duplication spells. Though there is one that is meant specifically for photographs, it lasts forever and carries over the magic that makes the pictures move. I don’t know the spell myself but I know it’s in a book called ‘_1,000 random spells to cure boredom and solve small problems_’ by Victally Shnop. You can find it just down that aisle.” She pointed to the very last aisle, he looked to where she was pointed and nodded before making his way over. 

He was turning into Hermione with all this book-buying he was doing, not that he minded, he was excited as to what he could find in this random book. 

The book was thankfully pretty cheap, especially with how thick it was, he compared it to a muggle phone book he had seen sitting by the Dursleys telephone in the hallway by the stairs. 

* * *

When he got home he found no one had returned yet, so, much to the protest of JARVIS he skipped his dinner and went straight to the bathrooms. He enjoyed a quick hot shower then went to bed. Hopefully, the early night meant he could wake up early before the team got home. 

* * *

He woke in the morning, thanking the gods for his early rise, and started on his new book. He had cast the protection and privacy charms on the book first so no one would walk in and question his sanity. He started to get wary when he successfully did the charm after his second try, his luck was never this good. He looked over his shoulder suspiciously expecting something to show up and crash his party but when nothing did, he went back to duplicating the photos he had of Neville’s parents. 

He wanted to get it done, nothing against Neville and his family but having the persistent nagging to get it done was driving him up the wall. When had completed the task, he was left with a small stack of photos. He wrote a quick letter and added the photos into an envelope he made before tying it all to Hedwig’s leg.

“I know it’ll be a long trip and I’m sorry but you can take as long as you want and eat anything you want, please deliver these to Neville.” He winced a little at the large request.

Hedwig just nipped his ear affectionately; he got the distinct feeling that she was telling him not to worry about it. He smiled at him and kissed her head, “Love you.” And she took off. 

The entire team didn’t get back until early in the afternoon and as soon as they got home they wanted food. And, at Tony’s request, he made lunch for everyone, showing off his kitchen skills.

“After this, I want to take you back to the shooting range and test something,” Natasha said, finishing the food in her mouth before speaking. He agreed, having nothing better to do.

* * *

The range was empty. The first thing you could see when entering was a row of stalls, targets and benches. Natasha guided him into the middle stall and pressed a button that retracted all the stall walls leaving just one long bench. 

“Alright, I want to see your reaction time. Targets will move and disappear, what I want you to do is hit as many as you can. Just remember what I thought you yesterday.” She passed him her favourite gun, a Glock 26 whatever that was, and a pair of earmuffs. She moved his shoulders into a more suitable position.

He turned his head and watched the redhead push a button, there were three beeps. 

At the first beep, the targets disappeared into the floor and coming back up in their place were multiple houses, bridges and walk-ways made of something Harry didn’t know, they obviously weren’t the target though. 

By the third beep, he had turned around again. He controlled his breathing to squash the nerves and aimed the firearm.

As soon as that third beep sounded a white target popped up. Now, that was a target. He aimed the gun and fired. The recoil startled him a bit as well as the sound but like every lesson, he got used to it after a few shots. 

Targets appeared in windows, running across the room and even popping up in random places. At the end of the session, Natasha got all the targets to see if Harry had missed any, amazingly he hadn’t. Most of his shots had even been in the head and chest areas. 

Natasha was happy with this discovery and sent him upstairs to take a break.

* * *

“Sir, there is an unknown elderly male in the living space.” 

Tony shot up and ran to the living room. He stood at the entrance of the door and saw that JARVIS was right. An old man was indeed standing in the middle of the room. He had a long beard and hair, both white with age. He wore a long, cobalt blue dress and a pair of half-moon spectacles. 

“How did you get in here,” he asked with little aggression, this was an old man, he wasn’t about to go up to him and threaten him. 

“Oh dear, you’re not who I’m looking for. There wouldn’t happen to be a Harry Potter living at this residence?” The old man smiled and his eyes twinkled, it gave Tony the shivers.

“I won’t answer any of your questions until you tell me how you got into my building without myself being notified.” He hid his weariness and became more forceful. Some unknown man knew his son's name.

“Ah, there is no need for that, young man. Now, if you could please show me to dear Harry then I can be on my way.” Tony felt something in his chest, a pull or persuasion to do as the man said but he fought it, not knowing what was happening. 

“I’ve never met a Harry Potter, now please leave before I have to use force,” he grits his teeth and raised his voice, hoping to alert the rest of the team. He was getting anxious, not that he showed it.

“I apologize but I can’t do that. His friends and family are worried about him, I just want to get him home,” Albus Dumbledore strengthened the simple compulsion, not allowing a muggle to best him.

Tony shook his head when it fuzzed up, he tried to fight it for as long as he could. Just as he was about to fall to the alien feeling Clint walked in with a gun aimed at the man. Steve and Bruce followed the archer in a few seconds later, shield in Steve’ hand.

“What’s going on here, Tony?” The question from Steve snapped him out of the confusing haze.

He cleared his throat, “This man somehow got into the tower and is now demanding to see someone called Harry Potter,” He avoided notions that would be familiarity towards his son, hoping to keep his presence here unknown.

“There is no need for such hostility, I merely wish to see young Harry and bring him home.”

Clint and Steve narrowed their eyes at the man, getting the unconscious feeling of danger. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there is no one with the name Harry Potter in this residence,” Steve lied smoothly. 

“None of that now, I know he is here, the spell never leads one in the wrong directing.” The old man’s voice had continued to stay condescending throughout the whole conversation and it was grating on Tony’s nerves.

At the declaration that the man had used a ‘spell’ everyone in the room, bar the elderly, looked at him as if he were insane. 

“Right, of course, your little spell, ritual or whatever is always right and can never go wrong. Are you sure you didn’t just take a wrong turn on your way to the madhouse?” Tony did not like the disappointed look the man gave him one bit.

“My dear, you mustn’t joke of such things especially those concerning magic.” He flourished his hand and rested them on his hips.

“Magic? Old man, I am going to go and call the nearest ah…mental hospital and get you some help.” Tony pulled out his phone while Clint and Steve kept the man in their sights.

“I assure you I am not mad and that call will not be necessary or appreciated.” Albus pulled out his wand and flicked it towards the phone sending a small short blast of his magic towards it, making it short circuit. 

Tony, Steve, Bruce and Clint jumped. “What the hell,” Tony shouted.

“Now, I insist that you show me to Harry so I can bring him home and he can go to school for the new year, education is important after all,” Albus kept his wand poised at the occupants of the room.

The team were a little on edge now, the obvious display of aggression and magic making them think back to the New York Loki incident a year ago. If this was Loki in disguise or controlling the man then they were in big trouble.

The old man sent a blue projectile towards Tony, then again at Steve, Bruce and Clint. All except Clint got hit, dropping to the floor frozen.

Clint raised his gun and tried to shoot it at the man, in a hindering spot rather than lethal but a quick slash of the man’s wand had his gun flying from his grip before he could shoot. The man shot a red light at Clint which the archer quickly ducked, letting the light go right over his head and towards the elevator behind him.

Unluckily, the elevator dinged at that very moment, opening to reveal a black-haired boy who was quick to avoid the spell. 

* * *

Harry got into the elevator and made his way up to the floor he was staying on. When the doors opened the last thing he was expecting was a stunning curse to come flying right at him. 

He stepped out of the elevator and looked at what was happening in the lounge, had the death eaters found him? Or perhaps Sirius Black? His fear was taken over by confusion when he saw none other than Albus Dumbledore standing in the middle of the room.

He saw no one else that was capable of magic in the room and concluded that Dumbledore must have cast the spell, but why?

“Ah, Harry, my dear boy. I have been looking for you.” The Headmaster smiled sweetly at him, making shivers go down his spine.

“Headmaster, what’s going on?” He stepped closer but still far enough for him to have time to dodge anymore spells, one can never be too cautious. His being closer gave him the chance to look over the couches and chairs blocking his view, what he saw made his vision red with anger.

“I was simply asking these young gentlemen where you were but they became hostile and aggressive so I had no choice but to resort to magic.” He tried to sweet talk and lie to Harry but he knew what was going on. After being here for so little time he knew what kind of people his family was like in situations like these.

“They wouldn’t have been hostile without a cause Headmaster, especially not hostile enough to earn a full-body bind.” His Headmaster had cursed his dad as well as the rest of the Avengers without proper provocation. Harry paled when the implications of the situation finally set in. The Headmaster had used magic in front of Tony. His dad knew about magic. Damn it! Why can he never just be happy!?

“Please leave Headmaster,” he begged, hoping for the situation to just end so he could go to bed and sleep forever.

“I’m sorry, my dear boy, but I cannot do that. You need to return to your relatives for the new school year,” Dumbledore persisted. From their positions on the floor; Clint was stuck straight like a stick, Tony had his hands frozen in position on the verge of calling his suit, Steve had his shield held up to his chest, and Bruce looked like this entire situation was a mild inconvenience. Though, that was probably to keep the Hulk calm.

“I don’t want to go back, sir. I want to stay here with my dad,” his voice quivered with emotion. He was scared, he just wanted to hide and not think about it. They knew and that’s all he could think of. The fear of their reactions was causing him to tremble. He will lose them all and they will hate him just like the Dursleys.

“Harry, none of that now. You have to continue your magical education-”

“Enough!” He yelled, interrupting his Headmaster. He couldn’t stand that word while his family was around him. “Please, leave. If you don’t I’ll contact that Aurors and have you arrested for breaking multiple laws,” He stared down at his feet, trying to avoid everyone’s expressions, avoid the disgust that was probably on their faces.

“Harry! You are acting like a child; I have not broken any laws. Now, my boy, enough of the dramatics and come back home,” he scolded Harry like he was a toddler.

“There are many laws you have probably broken. Apparating into a muggle household then proceeding to try and stun them. I also suspect that the way you found me was illegal. But the one thing I know for sure is that you have breached the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.” He looked up and forced himself to look confident. Hopefully, this would scare him off for a bit so he could go to MACUSA.

“The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy won’t be broken if I remove the muggles memories afterwards, my boy,” He sounded so sure of himself but Harry was just getting angrier and angrier. How dare he even suggest removing the memories of himself from his family after cursing them.

Harry knew that Dumbledore was not likely to back down, so he had to think of another way to get rid of him alone. He couldn’t do it by himself that was for sure and the only way he could think to get someone here was to cause a commotion and get muggle security or break the underage restriction of magic outside of school. Hopefully, someone will come and tell him off. 

“A…alright. I’ll go, let me just go and pack then,” He said, sullenly, fake resignation clear on his face. Dumbledore perked up and clapped his hands, “Of course, my boy.”

“Headmaster? Could you please not get rid of their memories yet, I want to say goodbye first,” his expression all but pledging.

“Only this once, because I care about you, Harry.” Harry shuddered but nodded and looked towards his dad before leaving off towards his room. Tony’s eyes were glistening with wetness. The full-body bind curse restricts most and almost all movement, this meant that talking and showing emotion is difficult to do. So, the fact the Tony had tears in his eyes meant that he was probably feeling a strong emotion. 

Relief probably, to get rid of a freak like him. He sighed and entered his room. He grabbed his bag and filled it with pillows, if this was going to work then he needed a distraction. He grabbed both his registered and illegal wand, using his untraceable one he cast a charm to make the bag heavier, like carrying a couple of books. 

He left his room, bag held in his left hand and his other wand in his right. Holly, eleven inches long holding the feather from the tail of a phoenix.

“I’m back, sir.” He entered the room and found the Headmaster sitting on the couch. He stood when Harry announced he was ready. 

“Perfect, my boy. Come along now.” He held out his hand. Harry waited until he got closer before chucking his bag at the Headmaster, in the old man’s moment of disorientation, Harry cast a stunning spell, weak as he had never done it before, and took cover behind the kitchen counter. 

He hoped the Aurors were on their way now because there wasn’t a chance the stun was going to hold longer than a minute against the more experienced wizard. His prayers were answered when over half a minute later several pops sounded. 

Harry let go of breath in relief and stood up from behind his hiding space. There were 3 Aurors and one familiar face. “Auror Mays?” his voice was shaky from the adrenalin.

Said Auror turned around in surprise, “Harry? What’s going on here?” The other Aurors in the room paid attention to the convocation hoping to know what happened while also keeping their eyes on the bodies on the floor. 

The stun on Dumbledore wore off and the old man disapparated before anyone could get a look at his face.

“Oh, thank Merlin it worked.” Harry teared up, hiccupping from the onslaught of emotion. 

Auror Mays touched his should and knelt, “Hey, it’s alright. We’re here to help now but we can’t do anything until you tell me what happened.”

Harry nodded with a small sob, “I was downstairs with a friend and when I came back I just barely dodged a stunning spell. The Headmaster had cast it as well as cast a fully-body bind on everyone else. He said he wanted me to come back and that I have to go back to school but I refused and even said I’d call the Aurors for breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. But he wouldn’t stop and said he’d just erase the memories of me and him being here. The only way I could think to get help was casting underage magic,” his voice broke a few times but by the end of his explanation, he was only tired. 

He missed Auror Mays singling the other Aurors who cast the counter on the Avengers but quickly stunned them. It’s easier to deal with a breach like this without scared No-majs.

“I know you’re tired and I’m sorry for asking but could you please come with me so we can get the man that did this,” he said gently, trying to comfort and calm the boy. Harry nodded, he didn’t want this to happen again, he doubted they would be able to catch Dumbledore but maybe they could stop him from finding Harry or something.

Now calmer, Harry stepped out of the embrace he hadn’t realised he had engaged with the Auror and wiped his eyes, “How’s everyone?” he asked, worried about his dad.

“They're fine, though we had to stun them. I bet they would be panicking right now if it weren’t for the stun. Don’t worry though, you said he was your dad, right? That means we probably won’t have to obliviate them, only help them understand magic.” Harry released another breath of relief.

By the gods. He was right then he said his luck was never this good, he just hadn’t expected this to happen.

* * *

He walked the halls of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Avengers had been left at home laying on the couches. 

In front of him were the four Aurors that had saved him. His eyes were red and his face pale, those that walked past them looked at him with sadness and pity. 

Auror Mays guided him to a set next to a desk, which the Auror sat in. The other Aurors going off to either do paperwork or gossip about what happened. It was most likely the latter from all the glances he was getting.

“Harry.” A voice made him look up, Mays was standing in front of him with a steaming cup of something and a small chocolate bar, “Chocolate is good for cheering someone up,” he smiled down at the distressed boy. 

Harry gratefully took the cup of what he now knew was hot chocolate. He took a sip and warmth instantly rushed through him, stopping the shivers he wasn’t even aware of.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but I need to know what happened so we can stop this from happening again,” the man said solemnly, he didn’t like the idea of questioning him while he was so upset. The Auror smiled slightly when Harry nodded his head.

“Alright, you’ve already told us what happened, what I want to know is the man’s name. You referred to him as ‘the Headmaster’ so you probably know his name.” He pulled out a piece of paper and made sure to speak more slowly and smoothly.

Harry shook his head. “Harry, I know you can tell me. Just his name, that’s it.” 

Harry shook his head again, “Doesn’t matter, even if you could find him they wouldn’t let you take him.”

“Why is that, Harry. Who is ‘they’?” He asked gently.

“The Ministry and community worship the man as though he is Merlin himself,” he said and took another sip of his drink, gaining another wave of soothing heat.

“Ah, and here I thought Harry Potter was younger,” the Auror joked, not knowing that Harry Potter was sitting right in front of him. Harry choked on his drink, laughing quietly. 

“Yes, he is younger. Potter isn’t the only one that the British worship,” he giggled tiredly and sighed, “His name is Albus many names Dumbledore.”

Mays ‘ah’ed in understanding, “Sadly I think you are right unless we can get the public to change their views on the man I fear we can’t do anything. We’ll just have to get a Restraining order than,” he said tiredly, that British lot was stubborn when it came to those they looked up to.

Harry hummed, “Restraining order?”

“Yes,” he smiled at the boy, “it would make it nearly impossible for the man to get near you without the order kicking in and teleporting him away.”

“That sounds nice,” he was starting to get more tired, the adrenalin leaving his system.

“It doesn’t take too long so we can get it done now. After that, we can discuss your family.” He left to get the papers and Harry sighed at the reminder of what was waiting for him at him.

He was dreading the confrontation. Loki had all but ruined their view on magic so they were all likely to be disgusted in him or see him as a threat. Harry hoped he could leave without them saying anything too bad. A quick flash of a though had him pursing his lips. He’d need to talk to Jay again about that tutor. 

“Alright, one Restraining order to go. You just need to fill out that first page,” Auror Mays smiled and handed him a piece of paper. Harry groaned and Mays laughed, is this what it’s like to be an adult? Merlin, he hated it.

He filled out the required spaces and handed the paper back to the Auror, he looked over the information and raised his eyebrows. He muttered something under his breath, “You’re Harry Potter.”

Harry nodded and laughed. 

* * *

Harry had to wait a while for Auror Mays to file his order but after that, the man escorted him home. Everyone was on the couch, Tony leaning against Steve, Clint had his head tilted up towards the ceiling, and Bruce lying across them all. He narrowed his eyes, he had forgotten all about Natasha. Where the hell is she? He’d been gone for hours. 

He took a seat on the opposite couch and held his head in his hands, the stun will wear off in a few minutes so he had to think fast about what he was going to say. Next to him, the couch dipped, he looked up and saw Auror Mays sitting next to him.

At Harry’s questioning look he explained, “I doubt you’re in any mental capacity to explain this to them alone,” he said softly. Harry released a breath he had been holding. Yes, this was going to help. He hadn’t even realised that he wanted someone with him.

A groan interrupted his musing and he looked up. Tony was smacking his lips together and Steve was trying to crack his neck. When Tony opened his eyes he saw Bruce on his lap, he quickly jumped up, dislodging the man. At Tony’s yelp, Steve and Clint opened their own eyes. Bruce was rudely awoken by the floor.

They all looked around wildly, obviously having remembered the recently occurred events. They stilled when they saw Harry and an unknown sitting on the couch across from them.

“Harry?” Tony asked attentively, Harry winced and made eye contact. Tony hesitantly walked forward, “Are you okay?” not expecting the question he nodded dumbly, “Good,” Tony sighed in relief.

His dad sat back down and everyone looked at him and Mays. He mentally prepared himself, giving a speech in his head like the one Wood gives before a game. With his newfound courage, he took a breath to begin his explanation. 

It all came crashing to the ground when the elevator opened and Natasha swaggered inside, freezing at what she saw. She raised an eyebrow at everyone. Harry patted the space beside him, begging her with his eyes to sit without question. Thankfully her training allowed her to see this and do so.

The black-haired boy bounced his leg. Just say it and it’ll be done. Three, two, one, “I have magic!” he accidentally yelled, voice high. Mays sighed next to him and Harry covered his eyes.

“Good enough,” Mays said beside him, amusement colouring his voice. Harry looked up to scowl at him, his green eyes promising death.

Clint narrowed his eyes at the duo, “So, you’re like Loki?” his voice was tense as was his body.

“Do we look like immortal Asgardians to you?” Mays snarked back, not liking the caution and near fear in the blond's voice.

“No, but you have magic, the last time we encountered it, I was being mind-controlled, aliens were falling from the sky, and a god was trying to take over the earth,” Clint bit back. Sure, this was a kid but he had magic and magic can do anything, perhaps he was older than he looked, or he was Illusioning himself to appear more docile.

Harry looked away from Clint and at his dad. His eyes were wide and he was staring down at his hands. 

“How do we know he won’t do the same?” Clint spoke again, raising his voice trying to get the other Avengers to agree.

“Obviously by what we know.” Harry jumped; he had forgotten Natasha was sitting next to him. “Clint, you and I work together, we have been trained to see the truth in a person and if this boy isn’t innocent then I don’t know what it.”

He nearly cried in relief, he had Natasha on his side. Clint looked sceptical, Harry didn’t have anything against him, he had had bad experiences with magic and was now faced with it again.

Tony released a breath, “She’s right, Harry is nothing but innocent. Besides, my son having magic will be a blast, imagine the pranks, or the training, or the dope things we could do,” he chimed in, a lopsided grin on his face. 

Harry got up from his seat and hugged Tony, sniffing into his shoulder. Relief from not losing Tony pulsing through his body. Tony pulled him onto his lap and held him. “Hey, it’s alright, kiddo. Have you been hiding this the entire time?” he asked softly. Harry nodded.

Tony continued to hold his son and rubbed his back. He turned back to the convocation, Natasha was trying to talk Clint into not being an asshole, succeeding mildly. Bruce was sitting and starting, probably not having anything to say, Tony swore that man was too accepting. And Steve looked thoughtful. Tony was thankful that they were all fine with Harry, fine being a stretch. 

The only one with a problem was Clint, not that he blamed the man, he had been mind-controlled to attack his friends and then fight a bunch of aliens that were falling through a magic portal in the sky. 

The weight of Harry on his lap got heavier, he looked down and saw that he was asleep. He stood up, the boy still in his arms. Harry groaned from the change in position, clinging tighter, arms around his neck and legs around his hips.

“I’m taking you to bed,” he whispered into his ear. 

“’k, Dad,” Harry slurred.

Tony stopped walking and looked down at the boy, he smiled. That sounded very nice, not the first time the boy had said it and he hoped it wouldn’t be the last. Tony walked down the hall and tucked his boy in, kissing his forehead and taking his glasses off.

When he got back to the lounge he found Clint pouting and Natasha standing above him. She heard him come in and smirk, “’k, Dad,” she mimicked.

Tony scowled at her without any heat. They all stood when the unknown man stood, “Well, it seems I’m not needed anymore, glad this didn’t take a turn for the worst.” 

“And who are you again?” Tony asked his usual snark and sarcasm back in his voice.

“Auror Mays, I met Harry earlier this month. If you have any questions like what an Auror is, I’m sure Harry would be happy to answer,” he answered. The team nodded and without any warning, the man disappeared with a small crack. 

“Well, I should have known that anything to do with you, Tony, would be interesting,” Bruce spoke for the first time that evening. Tony chuckled a bit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm would like to say I am sorry if I got any information wrong in the guns department. I don't know a single thing about them and researched them as much as I could without worrying my FBI agent. If you have any suggestions for which guns would be best for Harry then I am more than willing to accept the help.
> 
> Also, the past few chapters have been mostly filler and establishing chapters. the next few chapters will be getting into it. 
> 
> Hm, I have more planned to say but I can't remember what it was

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if it's too much or not enough detail. or if I need more or less dialog. If there is anything you don't understand then please let me know and I'll try to remedy that.  
I also love constructive criticism, but please don't be rude about it.


End file.
